Some Bold Leadership and Action was recently taken in moving the Bold Idea of pneumatic travel closer to reality. Hyperloop One announced recently a significant progress in moving towards building the first Hyperloop in Dubai. The announcement also highlights the long journey Bold Ideas sometimes require.
The Hyperloop, which was originally trademarked by Elon Musk and SpaceX in 2012, offers a Bold vision for travel at speeds up to 760 mph. Musk is also CEO of Tesla and is implementing other Bold Ideas in Energy and Transportation. (See Are Solar Rooftops about to Make Bold Impact?) If successfully implemented and widely adopted, the impact to society in areas such as infrastructure, land development and time freed up for other productive activities could be enormous.
Hyperloop One is putting the Musk idea into action. Hyperloop One is being closely followed as it seems to be determined to launch the first system into everyday use. The company’s board has a very accomplished board consisting of well known venture capitalists from Silicon Valley, including Shervin Pishevar. Its CEO is the former President of Sales and Development for Cisco Systems, Rob Lloyd.
According to Hyperloop One’s recent press release, “In less than two years, Hyperloop One has raised more than $160 million, assembled a team of more than 200 world-class experts, and built a campus in Downtown LA, a test and safety site in the Nevada desert, and a 100,000-sq. ft. machine and tooling shop in North Las Vegas.”
It also said it had put together an impressive group of partners to help drive the first build in Dubai. According to the company release, “The Company and the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) agreed jointly to evaluate a Hyperloop One system in greater Dubai and the UAE. Hyperloop One will work with McKinsey & Co. and the Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) on a detailed feasibility study sponsored by the RTA. The agreement moves the company into its next stage of progress in Dubai following a successful engagement in the Dubai Future Accelerators, which culminated in a presentation of Hyperloop One’s value proposition to His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.”
CEO Lloyd also stated, “”The momentum is global and accelerating. The world will see the test of the first full-scale Hyperloop system in early 2017 at our Test and Safety Site in Nevada and we will have multiple operational Hyperloop systems within five years.”
Bold Business believes the impact to Infrastructure, Community Development and Speed of Business could be enormous. Travel times to and from many cities could be dramatically altered. Imagine a world where the 221 mile NYC to Washington DC travel was only 18 minutes instead of 4 1/2 hours by car or train. Or traveling the 271 miles from LA to Las Vegas in 21 minutes? What impacts would these time saving have? The chart below truly outlines the massive difference in travel times when comparing cars to the Hyperloop:
The Hyperloop efforts are typical of how Bold Ideas develop. Most ideas need years of development and travel via pneumatic tubes were first developed in 1799. The first patent to transport goods in tubes was taken out in 1799 by the British mechanical engineer and inventor George Medhurst. In 1812, Medhurst wrote a book detailing his idea of transporting passengers and goods through air-tight tubes using air propulsion.
Medhurst’s book is titled: “Calculations and Remarks Tending to Prove the Practicality, Effects and Advantages of a Plan for the Rapid Conveyance of Goods and Passengers Upon An Iron Road Through a Tube of 30 Feet in Area, of the Power and Velocity of Air.”
Here we are 200 years after Medhurst’s Bold Idea and a new set of companies and leaders are attempting to take this idea into reality. We wish them success!
