Archinect - News

German research group completes Europe's first Hyperloop test track

2023-08-04T17:57:00-04:00

Europe’s first certified full-scale Hyperloop test track is now ready for test operations, marking a significant milestone in sustainable and ultra-fast transportation. The 24-metre-long track was developed by the Technical University of Munich (TUM) Hyperloop research group. The first successful test run with a passenger pod in vacuum conditions took place on the 10th of July 2023.

The research and development program TUM Hyperloop at the Technical University of Munich reached a milestone when it successfully conducted the first passenger ride under vacuum conditions on July 10, 2023. As reported by Innovation Origins, the group will now focus on refining their track’s drive system, levitation technology, and behavior when in vacuum conditions.

Image © Andreas Heddergott/TUM

TUM Hyperloop was founded to compete in the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition, an annual competition from 2015–2019 that called for hyperloop transport vehicle designs and prototypes.

Image © Andreas Heddergott/TUM

TUM’s recent triumph comes following another achievement it has made in hyperloop design, in which a student team won the “Not-A-Boring Competition” with a tunnel boring machine that employs an innovative horizontal digging technique.

Video courtesy TUM Hyperloop/YouTube

Hyperloop companies form international consortium

2023-02-14T19:11:00-05:00

A consortium of seven international hyperloop companies has formed a new entity called the Hyperloop Association, the group recently announced. The organization was begun in December and expects a royal decree to follow shortly announcing it as a legal entity.

The Association says it will be based in Brussels in order to work with European Union commissioners and the EU's Agency for Railways to "advance the progress and facilitate the widespread implementation of the innovative transportation system across Europe and globally."

The news comes after years of collaborations between various participating hyperloop companies and architecture firms on infrastructure and transportation design.

BIG, for example, designed the XP-2 pods as well as passenger portals for Hyperloop One. Zaha Hadid Architects worked with Hyperloop Italia to develop station designs and strategies for urban and rural impleme...

Planning officials are getting fed up with Elon Musk's string of empty tunnel promises

2022-11-30T14:49:00-05:00

The six-year-old company has repeatedly teased cities with a pledge to “solve soul-destroying traffic,” only to pull out when confronted with the realities of building public infrastructure, according to former executives and local, state and federal government officials who have worked with Boring. Boring has yet to make good on its most ambitious pitch: that it can design tunnel-boring machines that are so fast to operate that they will drive down costs and shake up the industry.

The concerning string of incidents has led some to label Musk, now the world’s richest man, as a highly-compensated grifter. Chicago, Los Angeles, Maryland, and San Bernardino County are among the list of victims of Boring’s illusory promises, with even some of the company’s own demonstration sites becoming abandoned relics of a pursuit Musk began after losing patience with LA traffic in 2016.

Prominent financial interests keep pouring money into the entity in spite of its repeated ghosting. Several large-scale constructions are still tentatively planned. To date, its sole completed project is a 1.7-mile EV tunnel at Las Vegas Convention Center that was qualified under a local Amusement and Transportation Systems (ATS) provision, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Transportation technology company Swisspod to build hyperloop testing facility in Colorado

2021-09-15T19:35:00-04:00

Swiss-American transportation technology company Swisspod has announced the development and construction of a new hyperloop testing facility in Pueblo, Colorado. This initiative follows Swisspod’s construction of Europe’s first operational test track in July.

Swisspod has partnered with TTCI, a subsidiary of the Association of American Railroads (AAR), to create the company’s second test facility, which will be located at PuebloPlex, a 15,000-acre business and industry complex 15 miles from Pueblo. TTCI will provide engineering insight, operational and test plan support. As stated in TTCI’s press release, “This partnership advances Swisspod’s global expansion strategy, fueling its fast-paced growth in the key U.S. market, while augmenting significant research and testing capabilities.”

In April, TTCI announced its partnership with the Pueblo Economic Development Corporation (PEDCO) to develop a dedicated engineering and laboratory facility that would include research into hyperloop...

Zaha Hadid Architects partners with Hyperloop Italia to develop next-generation transportation system

2021-06-09T16:30:00-04:00

Zaha Hadid Architects has signed an agreement with Hyperloop Italia to co-design the next phase of development for the transformative transportation system.

Hyperloop Italia is a start-up born from an initiative by Bibop Gresta, the founder of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT), to disseminate and implement hyperloop technologies and infrastructures in Italy. HTT was founded in 2013 and has a global team of more than 800 engineers, creatives, and technology experts divided into 52 multidisciplinary teams and with 50 partners between companies and universities. The company is headquartered in Los Angeles and has offices in North and South America, the MIddle East, and Europe. According to Hyperloop Italia, it is the first company in the world to have an exclusive license for the commercial implementation of the Hyperloop project in Italy.

Previously on Archinect: HyperloopTT unveils first full-scale capsule with goal of being passenger ready by 2019

The hyperloop train will ...

Virgin Hyperloop: new concept video shows pod interiors and BIG-designed portals

2021-02-01T16:24:00-05:00

Richard Branson's Virgin Hyperloop endeavor appears to be picking up some momentum with recent announcements of the first human passenger test and plans for a $500 million Hyperloop Certification Center in West Virginia.

Now the company unveiled a new concept video that adds a bit more visual detail to the vision's passenger experience.

Image: Virgin Hyperloop.

Virgin Hyperloop worked with Bjarke Ingels Group not only on the design of their XP-2 pods (in collaboration with Kilo Design) but also on the planned passenger portals.

Image: Virgin Hyperloop.

Seattle-based design studio Teague was hired to create the pod interiors. "We leveraged decades of experience designing how people and things move across various modalities—taking some of the best aspects from aviation, rail, automotive, and even hospitality to create a new and better passenger experience," explained Teague CEO & President John Barratt.

Image: Virgin Hyperloop.

"Recessed seat wells provide a greater sense of space, w...

Virgin Hyperloop: first human passenger test in BIG-designed XP-2 pod

2020-11-09T14:52:00-05:00

While Nevada's slow election vote counting has inspired countless memes over the weekend, a new speed milestone was reached in the state when humans successfully traveled in a hyperloop pod for the first time.

Promotional video of the first hyperloop passenger test. Video via Virgin Hyperloop on YouTube.

After running over 400 unoccupied tests at its 500-meter DevLoop test site in Las Vegas, Virgin Hyperloop now catapulted the company's Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer, Josh Giegel, and Director of Passenger Experience, Sara Luchian, for a thrilling ride through the very short test tunnel.

Image: Virgin Hyperloop.

"The occupants made their maiden voyage on the newly-unveiled XP-2
vehicle, designed by BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group and Kilo Design, which was custom-built with occupant safety and comfort in mind," explains a statement released by Virgin Hyperloop. Back in 2016, BIG had announced a joint venture with Aecom and Hyperloop to "transform the future of public infrastruct...

Virgin Hyperloop to build $500 million test site in West Virginia

2020-10-12T15:06:00-04:00

Virgin Hyperloop One announced its plan to build a $500 million certification center to advance its vision of the future of high-speed transportation in West Virginia. The state will serve as a locus for testing, developing, and validating the technology that underpins the still-theoretical hyperloop system.

In a statement, Richard Branson's company Virgin Hyperloop expressed hope that the new West Virginia Hyperloop Certification Center, combined with unusual bipartisan political momentum, "will pave the way for the certification of hyperloop systems in the US and around the world — the first step towards commercial projects."

Rendering of the planned Hyperloop Certification Center in West Virginia. Image: Virgin Hyperloop.

Great Lakes Hyperloop System wins House support for Cleveland-Chicago route

2019-07-01T14:03:00-04:00

Technology that would connect the cities of Cleveland and Chicago via a 30-minute commute inched closer to reality this month as a national transportation and housing appropriations bill passed one federal hurdle. Five million dollars in initial funding for the Great Lakes Hyperloop System, an experimental high-speed transportation project, was included in legislation voted on by the U.S. House of Representatives in late June.

Kim Palmer reports for Crain's Cleveland: "The passage of the 2020 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriation bill by the House provides the funds for the U.S. Department of Transportation to create a regulatory framework for development of a hyperloop system."

Prototype of the Hyperloop passenger capsule, unveiled in October 2018. Image: HyperloopTT

"The first route studied on the Great Lakes Hyperloop network will be Cleveland to Chicago in 28 minutes," states Great Lakes Hyperloop on its website. "With over 3 million journeys annually, Hyperloop could save travelers 13 million hours each year. Cleveland boasts the largest economy in Ohio with over $120B in annual GDP. Chicago is the 3rd largest metropolitan area in the US bringing in $600B GDP per year."

The U.S. Senate is now next in line to vote on the bill.

HyperloopTT unveils first full-scale capsule with goal of being passenger ready by 2019

2018-10-03T15:02:00-04:00

Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HyperloopTT) has unveiled the first of its full-scale capsules that it hopes will one day be used to transport passengers at 750 miles per hour, reports Bloomberg. The California-based company is one of several Hyperloop contenders that have sprung up to deliver on Elon Musk’s 2013 transportation vision.

HyperloopTT will now take the capsule, called Quintero One, to the company's European HQs in France, where it has begun constructing a test track. With the goal of being passenger ready by 2019, the technology promises a travel speed of 750 miles per hour, meaning it may someday be able to take travelers from LA to Las Vegas in 20 minutes. The company is planning to have the "airplane without wings" on commercial tracks in China and Abu Dhabi over the next couple of years.

New European hyperloop proposed running from Amsterdam to Frankfurt

2018-09-14T13:07:00-04:00

The UNStudio Futures Team (UNSFutures) recently announced plans for a 'Station of the Future' at the first edition of HyperSummit. Organized by Hardt Hyperloop, the summit took place in Utrecht, Netherlands focusing on urgency, research, and collaboration to realize a European hyperloop.

'Station of the Future' from Amsterdam to Frankfurt by UNSFutures © Plompmozes

The proposed hyperloop will run from Amsterdam to Frankfurt in 53 minutes. Using technology powered by solar panels, the hyperloop will produce no sound or environmental emissions and can provide the necessary energy to power itself.

'Station of the Future' modular diagram © UNStudio

The station has been envisioned as a series of tessellating components which can adapt to a range of possible contexts: city-centre, edge of city or adjoining an existing infrastructure hub, such as an airport.

Plans for the first commercial Hyperloop system in the United Arab Emirates

2018-04-24T18:08:00-04:00

Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HyperloopTT) recently signed an agreement with Aldar Properties PJSC, a leading real estate developer in Abu Dhabi, to begin construction on the first commercial Hyperloop system in the United Arab Emirates.

Rendering of HyperloopTT station in UAE, in collaboration with AN.ONYMOUS. Image: HyperloopTT.

The first phase of construction will begin with a 6 mile stretch of development between Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Design for the Hyperloop pylon is a collaboration with MAD architects, while the station design is in collaboration with AN.ONYMOUS. The agreement also includes building a Hyperloop XO Square Innovation Center and Visitor Center. This section is located close to the Expo 2020 site and Al Maktoum International Airport, with the goal of having it up and running in time for Expo 2020.

Rendering of HyperloopTT station in UAE, in collaboration with AN.ONYMOUS. Image: HyperloopTT.

The Hyperloop system, first presented by Elon Musk, will move pe...

Elon Musk starts digging for the Hyperloop in D.C.; Richard Branson plans to bring it to India first

2018-02-22T15:47:00-05:00

Elon Musk’s tunnel-boring project has received more vague government approval for its equally vague plans to build an underground hyperloop between New York and Washington, DC. Last week, Washington, DC’s Department of Transportation issued a preliminary permit to Musk’s Boring Company to start digging at an abandoned lot in the northeast section of the city, according to The Washington Post.

The extend of the building permit for Musk's The Boring Company is still vague though and currently limited to an empty parking lot at 53 New York Avenue NE next to a Mc Donald's. As the Washington Post reports: "The District’s Department of Transportation is figuring out what other permits the Boring Company would need to cut under city roads and other public spaces."

Hold on to your pants.

Meanwhile in India, Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, and now also Chairman of Virgin Hyperloop One, is spearheading efforts to connect Mumbai with Pune via magnetically levitated pod travel within the next five to seven years, cut down travel time from several hours to 25 minutes, and make the nation with its population of 1.3 billion people home of the first operating Hyperloop line.

Closer look: FR-EE's Hyperloop One Mexico City-Guadalajara route proposal

2017-09-18T19:43:00-04:00

Out of over 2,600 entries, a multi-disciplinary consortium led by Fernando Romero / FR-EE was recently announced as one of the 10 winning teams in the Hyperloop One Global Challenge with the proposal “Mexloop”, the 330-mile Mexico-Guadalajara route. The Mexloop project builds on Mexico's ambitious $600 billion public works investment under the National Infrastructure Program.

Rendering © FR-EE.

The team submitted concepts for Mexloop's inter-modal station designs and locations, route infrastructure, public space, the pods, and logistics. Aiming to alleviate traffic in one of the world's most congested cities, Mexloop will connect Central Mexico’s major population, cultural, industrial, and manufacturing centers into one new ‘Megalopolis’ of 42 million people that is projected to grow to 60 million by 2050, the Mexloop team describes.

Image © FR-EE.

The Mexloop corridor will reduce travel time between Mexico City and Guadalajara to 38 minutes, at a spe...

From Chicago to Pittsburgh in 47 minutes: Hyperloop One Global Challenge announces 10 winning teams & routes in North America, Europe, South Asia

2017-09-15T15:21:00-04:00

Hyperloop One just announced the winners of its global challenge, unveiling ten teams from five countries with their proposals of the strongest routes for future Hyperloop connections. As a next step, the company plans to work with the teams and expert business and engineering partners to determine technical feasibility and commercial viability.

Architecture & engineering giant AECOM was announced in a supporting function in a newly formed public-private partnership between Hyperloop One and the Colorado Department of Transportation to launch a feasibility study in Colorado examining transportation demand, economic benefits, proposed routes, regulatory environments as well as alignment with overall CDOT high-speed travel, rail and freight plans.

The ten winning route proposals (listed below) connect 53 urban centers and impact nearly 150 million people in Canada, India, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and the United States, the company says.

United States: Chicago-Columbus-Pittsburgh
4...

Geoff Manaugh reports on the US' obsession with the Hyperloop and charismatic mega-projects alike

2017-07-27T17:34:00-04:00

Still, the trouble with the Hyperloop is not its breathless gee-whizzery. It’s the fact that it mistakes the charismatic mega-project for a viable solution to current problems. If the Hyperloop’s purpose is to address large-scale urban mobility, then there are many other options already deserving of public funding and attention—ones that do not require a hard rebooting of the entire urban world to be realized.

Musk’s visions are valuable because they show that even people far outside the field of urban planning can be frustrated with the world others have built for us. They, too, should have a say.

It’s great set design, but terrible city planning. Tunnels might abruptly end where investors fear to tread; driverless cars might be blocked from crossing bridges managed by rival tech firms. As for the Hyperloop, it is a P.R. coup for Elon Musk—and a project that, if realized, would undoubtedly be a thrill to experience. But it is by no means the solution that most people have been waiting for, other than the journalists wondering what story they might cover next.

Elon Musk tweets about receiving an approval for an underground NY-Phil-Balt-DC Hyperloop

2017-07-20T13:24:00-04:00

Just received verbal govt approval for The Boring Company to build an underground NY-Phil-Balt-DC Hyperloop.

NY-DC in 29 mins?...

Work on Europe's first hyperloop test facility in Delft has been completed

2017-06-08T15:24:00-04:00

Back in February, TU Delft won the first phase of SpaceX's Hyperloop Competition, beating out MIT and the Technical University of Munich, for their design of a human-scale Hyperloop pod. Well, last week, Europe's first hyperloop test facility on the TU Delft campus was unveiled.

Hardt, which was founded by some of the winners from Elon Musk's hyperloop competition, is the first European company to work on developing the futuristic transport system. They have been working in conjunction with the construction company BAM to build the 30-meter long test facility revealed last Thursday. The facility consists of a tube with a length of 30 meters and an external diameter of 3.2 and will allow Hardt to try out all the important systems at low speeds. Testing will focus on examining the safety, the propulsion, the gliding and the stabilization of the hyperloop vehicle. In addition, the company is also interested in looking into potential social issues concerning the new form of transportatio...

Elon Musk confirms Boring Tunnels are for Hyperloop

2017-05-22T17:10:00-04:00

Since the company’s introduction, many (including Futurism) have speculated that the tunnels’ true purpose was to work in tandem with the Hyperloop. This is the real clincher here. It seems like The Boring Company isn’t just going to be for cars. “The electric skate can transport automobiles, goods, and/or people. And if one adds a vacuum shell, it is now a Hyperloop Pod which can travel at 600+ miles per hour,” the site explains.

Back in December, the business magnate Elon Musk tweeted his frustration of being stuck in LA traffic along with a half-joking suggestion of building a tunnel to fix his gridlocked woes.

Well as it turns out, this simple musing has become a full-blown startup. The Boring Company, it is called, hopes to build a series of underground tunnels that will save Angelenos from such "soul-destroying traffic." The company has already found a way to dig tunnels at a much more cost effective and efficient rate and is now revealing the tunnel's potential to work in tandem with the Hyperloop.

Hyperloop One plan would take travelers from NYC to D.C. in 20 minutes

2017-04-10T17:04:00-04:00

Passengers and cargo are loaded into a pod which gradually accelerates with electric propulsions through a low-pressure tube. Then, the pod lifts above the track using magnetic levitation and moves at airline speeds. This would connect 80 percent of the country, making a cross-country trip just about five hours long.

Hyperloop One–whose transportation concept was first proposed by Elon Musk–has revealed a plan that would take travelers from NYC to D.C. in just 20 minutes via magnetically levitating pods that move by electric propulsion and travel faster than 700 miles per hour.

TU Delft wins overall for first phase of SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition

2017-02-02T12:37:00-05:00

TU Delft recently won the overall winning title in the first phase of SpaceX's Hyperloop Pod competition, which the aerospace company launched in 2015. Students and independent engineers worldwide were invited to design a human-scale Hyperloop pod, as a way to help accelerate SpaceX's development of a functional Hyperloop prototype.

This past weekend, SpaceX held the first Competition Weekend at their headquarters in Hawthorne, California. After various performance tests, only three student teams were qualified to test their pods on the 1.2 kilometer test tube: TU Delft, the Technical University of Munich, and MIT.

Delft Hyperloop pod at the SpaceX competition in Hawthorne. Photo via TUDelft/Twitter.

Their pod wasn't the fastest one, but TU Delft achieved the highest overall score and won best innovative design. The Technical University of Munich came in second and won the fastest pod award, while MIT placed in third overall and won best safety and reliability.

Speed wasn't the main pri...

Hyperloop One announces 35 semifinalists in 17 countries for its global challenge

2017-01-10T12:58:00-05:00

Whether you envisioned Hyperloop One as an overhyped pneumatic tube or an inventive way to transport cargo and/or passengers, 35 teams from 17 countries around the world have just been announced as semifinalists in the contest to create working transit corridors for the technology. The 35 proposed routes are sited in countries including Argentina, Poland, Australia, India, the U.K. and the U.S. (the full list is below). Finalists will be announced in May after three global showcase events where each team has the chance to demonstrate how their proposal will economically benefit their region. The showcases will be held in New Delhi on February 28th, Washington D.C. on April 6th, and London on April 27th. Twenty of the proposals currently have governmental or other funding sources already lined up.

Corridors in the semifinalist round include:
AR Buenos Aires-Cordoba
AU Sydney-Melbourne
CA Ontario (cargo)
CA Toronto-Montreal
CA Vancouver (cargo)
CH Shanghai-Hangzhou
DE Autobahn
EE Tallin-Helsi...

Boring: how serious is Elon Musk about his latest traffic-solving venture?

2016-12-23T14:20:00-05:00

Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk has a pretty good sense of humor, but sometimes we can't tell when he's just joking or mulling his next big idea. For example, on Saturday Musk took to Twitter to say out loud what every traffic-plagued Los Angeles resident is silently screaming inside: The city is a gridlocked hellscape. "Traffic is driving me nuts," wrote Musk. But he didn't stop there. He also raised the idea of boring through obstacles to alleviate traffic woes.

"It would be easy to toss this off as random talk from an eccentric auto and space mogul, but Musk's last "random idea," the Hyperloop, has spawned a number of startups and millions in funding. So when Musk not only says that boring through things would be a good idea to ease traffic, but that he plans to do it himself, it's time to start paying attention."

Hyperloop designs by BIG revealed for Dubai, featuring autonomous pods and city-wide portals

2016-11-08T13:43:00-05:00

Dubai is set on getting its own hyperloop, and the Los Angeles-based Hyperloop One (formerly Hyperloop Technologies), in collaboration with BIG, is champing at the bit to make that a reality.

The Dubai Roads and Transport Authority has agreed to review Hyperloop One’s feasibility study for a high-speed network throughout the United Arab Emirates, designed to get passengers between Dubai and Abu Dhabi (about an hour and a half apart by bus) in 12 minutes. BIG and consulting firm McKinsey & Co. will work in collaboration with Hyperloop One on the proposal. In a separate agreement formed this past August, Hyperloop One also has plans with Dubai to develop a hyperloop network for cargo.

This step closer to a full-scale, working hyperloop (which Hyperloop One estimates will come to fruition in the next five years) comes after the company’s dry run of its propulsion technology in the Nevada desert—part of SpaceX’s competition to design the pods and run them on a smaller-scale test-track. No...

Russian government wants to build its own Hyperloop, with China's help

2016-06-17T18:00:00-04:00

The government of Russia has announced a desire to build a 70km Hyperloop line on its Pacific Coast to link the port of Zarubino with China’s Jilin province, but wants China to help fund it. The link would be part of Russia’s plan to develop a series of transport corridors between its Primorye region and northeast China...The project’s cost has been estimated at about $500m...the ministry would try to interest China in co-financing the link as part of its Silk Road grand strategy.

'Hyperloop as transportation’s new girlfriend: mysterious, unencumbered, exciting, expensive.'

2016-05-24T13:12:00-04:00

“What we’re seeing right now is what I saw in 1996,” said Mr. Lloyd, a former president of sales and development at Cisco. “We all had I.P. routers and everything was done a certain way. At Cisco, we said, ‘You can carry that over the Internet,’ and everyone said, ‘No.’ But those high-speed networks made the Internet possible.” Hyperloop, he said, “will do to the physical world what the Internet did to the digital one.”

Allison Arieff (editorial director at SPUR and former Dry Futures judge) has some questions for Hyperloop One (formerly Hyperloop Technologies) after a propulsion test demonstration in the Nevada desert. While the company has managed remarkably fast developments in its tube technology for such high-speeds as the Hyperloop demands, it's nowhere near reality – and Arieff clearly articulates the (many) remaining concerns of such technology, after mere feasibility.

Related on Archinect:

Bjarke Ingels Group + AECOM join forces with Hyperloop

2016-05-11T19:32:00-04:00

Not content to merely redefine skyscrapers, football stadiums, and the agency of the architect, Bjarke Ingels Group is now leaping into the realm of transportation, joining up with Hyperloop to "transform the future of public infrastructure."

Bjarke explained it thusly: "Traditionally, the work of an architect is to design buildings for the same known program - a residence or a workplace - and try to squeeze in a marginal improvement here or an elegant design solution there. With Hyperloop we are not only designing a futuristic station or a very fast train - we are dealing with an entirely novel technology with the potential to completely transform how our existing cities will grow and evolve - and how new cities will be conceived and constructed."

For its part, AECOM will focus on improving the freight end of the transportation system, focusing its highly trained teams on the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles. "AECOMs partnership with Hyperloop One has the potential to transform ...

Hyperloop hopefuls turn to 'passive' maglev technology

2016-05-10T13:47:00-04:00

"Utilizing a passive levitation system will eliminate the need for power stations along the Hyperloop track, which makes this system the most suitable for the application and will keep construction costs low," [...] "From a safety aspect, the system has huge advantages, levitation occurs purely through movement, therefore if any type of power failure occurs, Hyperloop pods would continue to levitate and only after reaching minimal speeds touch the ground."

Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (not to be confused with Hyperloop Technologies Inc., a peer company also hoping to realize Elon Musk's hyperloop vision) published a statement yesterday announcing the company had licensed "passive magnetic levitation" technology to power their Hyperloop prototype.

Billed as "a cheaper, safer alternative" to maglev technology, the passive magnetic levitation doesn't require as much infrastructural build-out, as it doesn't need to be powered by sources along the track. The system is "passive" insofar as instead of using superconducting magnets or powered electromagnets, it uses "permanent room-temperature magnets, similar to the familiar bar magnet". You can read all about the technology here.

More Hyperloop on Archinect:

Hyperloop announces plans for first European routes

2016-03-11T13:23:00-05:00

In a joint statement yesterday the Playa Vista, California-based Hyperloop Transport Technologies (HTT) and the Slovak Republic’s economy minister held out the future vision of the Hyperloop whisking passengers at 760 mph between Vienna in Austria, Budapest in Hungary and the Slovakian capital of Bratislava. A Bratislava-to-Vienna route would take just 8 minutes at full speed, while a Bratislava-to-Budapest route would take 10 minutes.

Hyperloop previously in the Archinect news:

MIT and TU Delft emerge victorious at Hyperloop competition; Elon Musk drops hint about "electric jets"

2016-02-02T12:45:00-05:00

[MIT's] team was awarded the top prize, and...Delft University of Technology from the Netherlands were the next runners-up. [...] Musk took questions from the audience on everything from what inspired him to create the Hyperloop idea (being stuck in LA traffic), what advice he had for the winning teams (lots of dry runs), and what "crazy idea" he is working on next (electric jets — Musk says he thinks he's close to something, but said precious little about how they'd work).

MIT's design will go on to compete at the Hyperloop test-run competition this summer, hosted at a bespoke race track being built near Hawthorne, CA – SpaceX's headquarters. Here's the complete list of winners from the competition, hosted by Texas A&M University:

Best Overall Design Award: MIT Hyperloop Team, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Pod Innovation Award: Delft Hyperloop, Delft University of Technology (The Netherlands)
Pod Technical Excellence Award: Badgerloop, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Pod Technical Excellence Award: Hyperloop at Virginia Tech, Virginia Tech
Pod Technical Excellence Award: HyperXite, University of California Irvine

Other teams advancing include:

rLoop (non-student team)
uWaterloo Hyperloop, University of Waterloo
UWashington Hyperloop, University of Washington
University of Toronto, University of Toronto
RUMD Loop, University of Maryland and Rutgers University
GatorLoop, University of Florida
Team HyperLynx, University of Colorado-Denver
Hyperloop UC, Univers...