Hyperloop One to Shut Down, Ending Its Vision for ‘Frictionless’ Transport

High-speed freight transportation company Hyperloop One will shut down, having failed to win any contract to build a working hyperloop, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday citing people familiar with the matter.

The Los-Angeles-based firm, which completed the world’s first passenger ride on a super high-speed levitating pod system in 2020, will sell off its remaining assets, while the employment for its remaining employees will end on Dec. 31 this year, according to the report.

Hyperloop One did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

In a hyperloop system, which uses magnetic levitation to allow near-silent travel, a trip between New York and Washington would take just 30 minutes – twice as fast as a commercial jet flight and four times faster than a high-speed train.

Elon Musk had reignited interest in the technology in 2013 by setting out how a modern hyperloop system would work. His own tunneling enterprise, The Boring Company, is seeking to send passengers packed into pods through an intercity system of giant, underground vacuum tubes known as the hyperloop.

Hyperloop One was founded in 2014 and raised more than $400 million, largely from United Arab Emirates shipping company DP World and British billionaire Richard Branson.

(Reporting by Aatreyee Dasgupta and Bhanvi Satija in Bengaluru)

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