The Future Is Here: Hyperloop Winners Announced

Hyperloop One announced 10 winning submissions in a long-running contest to find what the mad geniuses behind the project believe to be the best places to build the first hyperloop tracks in the world. Ten teams across five countries (Mexico, India, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada) were picked from the original nearly 3,000 submissions, and the routes range in size from 200 to nearly 700 miles, depending on the location.

Under the motto "Be anywhere, move everything, connect everyone" and with $160 Million raised, Hyperlink One claims to be on the verge of reinventing transportation forever. Using new technology to eliminate the barriers of time and distance, Hyperlink One founders believe that they will unlock vast economic opportunities in some of the worlds most cutting edging, growing urban corridors. Their project has never seemed more futuristic, but for the first time there are now real steps being taken across the globe to turn the vision into a potential reality.

According to the Hyperloop One wesbite, Hyperloop will be a new, futuristic mode of transportation that moves freight and people quickly, on-demand and direct from origin to destination, drastically reducing travel time. Passengers or cargo enter a Hyperloop vehicle and accelerate gradually via electric propulsion through a low-pressure tube at 1,000km/hour (600 mph)!

The Hyperloop vehicle quickly will above the track using magnetic levitation and glide at airline speeds for long distances in an enclosed tube due to ultra-low aerodynamic drag. Hyperloop systems will be built on columns or tunneled below ground to avoid dangerous crossings and wildlife.

It’s will be fully autonomous and enclosed, eliminating pilot error and weather hazard. Just when it couldn't sound an better, the visionaries, such as Elon Musk, behind the idea, promise it will be clean transportation, with no direct carbon emissions.

Now that Hyperloop One has announced the 10 winners of its Hyperloop One Global Challenge, which sought to identify the most promising potential Hyperloop routes across the globe, Hyperloop One will work closely with each team to further develop their proposals. Although far from any plans to actual build these tracks, some immediate progress is being made. A feasibility study for the Colorado, for example, route has already been announced by the Colorado Department of Transportation in partnership with Hyperloop One and with support from AECOM.