HyperloopTT offers USDOT first look at full-scale hyperloop system

Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HyperloopTT, Culver City, CA, US) announced June 25 that it met with officials from the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT, Washington, D.C., U.S.) at HyperloopTT's research facilities in Toulouse, France. USDOT officials were reportedly able to see the company’s full-scale track system as it undergoes optimization and integration prior to the construction of the commercial system in Abu Dhabi. With tubes assembled and pumps installed, HyperloopTT says it is now beginning the process of preparing its full-scale passenger capsule for human trials in 2020. The passenger capsule is reportedly constructed almost completely out of a dual-layer smart composite material created using carbon fiber and embedded sensors.

Members of HyperloopTT also met with the USDOT at the agency's offices in Washington D.C. to present a technical overview of Hyperloop technology and the certification guidelines completed by global testing, certification, inspection and training provider TÜV SÜD (Munich, Germany). In March of 2019, the USDOT announced a new council that focuses on facilitating the development of new transportation technologies like Hyperloop called NETT (Non-traditional and Emerging Transportation Technology).

HyperloopTT presented the same guidelines to the European Commission in May of 2019. The company says it is working to share its expertise on how best to safely regulate these technologies with the governments of the world. 

“Not only are we building the only truly full-scale, insured and safety certified system in the world,” says Dirk Ahlborn, CEO of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies. “We are advancing our efforts to move the Hyperloop forward by sharing our technological experience and our perspective on regulatory frameworks."

“We are moving ever closer to the moment when we will move people in the Hyperloop for the first time,” adds Bibop Gresta, Chairman of HyperloopTT. “And by sharing our insights with our government colleagues in the United States and Europe, we are furthering our goal of creating the safest and most efficient form of transportation the world has ever seen.”