Hyperloop challenge
Afederal government official reportedly gave Elon Musk the nod for a hyperloop route from New York City to Washington — but what is the reality?
I believe hyperloop technology is not only possible, but it represents a bold new discovery in transportation innovation whose time has arrived.
Further, it represents an inflection point in national security because of its potential to propel our strategic advantage beyond our competitors in addressing international threats and in asserting homeland security.
This concept has the science, technology, excitement, curiosity and money to move transportation innovation as did the advancement of manned aviation from Kitty Hawk to Chuck Yeager. But is that enough?
Like the interstate highway system (authorized in 1956) envisioned, designed and constructed during the Eisenhower administration, it will require empowered political leaders and commercial investors who understand this is more than transportation infrastructure and speedy trains.
Technology is not the primary hurdle. The most vexing challenges for developers will be political will, access to key nodes such as maritime ports, and design standardization.
For example, we have seen the reinvention of new technologies in the past decade in ways and at speeds never imagined — robotics, 3-D printing, autonomous vehicles and artificial intelligence, to name a few. Those are harbingers for what can happen in the highspeed transportation area.
But are the many emerging tube and hyperloop companies willing to coordinate, collaborate and integrate to forge the consensus and “sharing economy” necessary to reinvent transportation for the public good? Or will this community of competitors — including Hyperloop One, ET3, HTT, Arrivo, Hypernet Holding Corp., Hardt, SpaceX, AECOM and TransPod — conduct themselves as market scalpers, as did the railroads 200 years ago?
The rail industry provides a negative example in the development of highspeed pod transportation in the 21st century because trains are operated in a slow, costly and environmentally inefficient manner. And only 55 percent of the railway track gauge is standardized globally to this day. Hyperloop must do better. This isn’t just building new products such as the Tesla, iPhones or lithium ion batteries. It is a disruptive technology that will require more than a government official giving a wealthy futurist a thumbs-up.
The most compelling feature of highspeed tube transportation is that it will transport goods and passengers more quickly. Also, it will relieve traffic congestion on roads, rivers, railways and airports with a more efficient and accessible conveyance. In the process, it will bring accelerated, green, safe transport to a complex supply chain — infusing a new level of resilience and growth to our fragile economy.
As Henry Ford and the Wright brothers discovered, capturing the imagination of government leaders, smart researchers and venture capitalists is one thing, but bringing competing companies together to launch a new form of transportation is another. We must coordinate as public, private and academic partners to reinvent and commercialize tube transportation in the 21st century.