Thirty different teams from different universities around the world have competed at Space X's Hyperloop Competition in a quest to create the best hyperloop pod. Last year, MIT won the competition but that didn't give them a reason to slack off this year. Before the winners are declared, the teams talked about their preparations as well as their predictions about the future of hyperloop.
According to John Mayo, project manager of the MIT Hyperloop team, they had to let go of other extra-curricular activities in order to develop their hyperloop pod. Aside from doing their class work as graduate students, they also had to put an extra 30 hours every week to research and build their hyperloop pod.
If that is pretty impressive, the University of Wisconsin Madison's Badgerloop team puts even much more time in their project - 60 to 80 hours every week. That time is only for building their pod and they had to attend classes as well as do their school work and research.
In terms of preparations, the team from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands had to put their studies on hold just to focus on building the Delft Hyperloop. According to Tim Houter, the team captain, they started building their pod for the Space X Hyperloop Competition in 2015.
Aside from talking about their preparations, the teams also made their fearless forecast about the future of the hyperloop.
Duncan Adams, technical director of Badgerloop, said that hyperloop will soon become an industry. He also hoped that there will be more fully scalable technologies for a full-sized hyperloop in the future.
Houter, on the other hand, opined that the hyperloop industry will merge reminiscent of what happened between the railway and aerospace industry. Mayo added that more companies will take notice and help bring the awareness about the hyperloop to the public. He also hoped that people will realize that what they're doing at the Space X Hyperloop Competition isn't just merely a pipe dream but something that can become a reality someday.
