[imagesource: Virgin Hyperloop]

Richard Branson’s Virgin is claiming to set the standard for 21st-century travel with passenger pods that can go at speeds of 670 miles per hour (more than 1 000 kilometres per hour) from one major city to the next.

The possibility of hyperloop technology taking hold in real life has been around for the past few years, and now Virgin has released a concept video showing its plans.

Hyperloop Technologies was founded in 2014, with Branson joining the board of directors in 2017 and changing the name to Virgin Hyperloop.

Excitement aside, hyperloop technology remains unproven and will likely only come into operation at some point in the next few decades.

The transportation system includes pods in a tube where a near-vacuum environment is maintained, reports CNN.

The speed of 670mph is reached by essentially eliminating aerodynamic drag, while the battery-powered pods don’t need as much power.

They’ll be able to travel at plane-like speeds with zero direct emissions, which we are in dire need of considering the health of our planet.

Another exciting aspect of this technology is that because the pods aren’t connected, they can split off into separate directions and take more passengers further and wider than ever before.

Check out the explanatory video:

As mentioned before, there’s still a long way to go to get hyperloops on track:

The company completed its first test with passengers last November. It had previously performed more than 400 unoccupied tests, according to a company press release at the time.

During the test, the pod only reached 100 mph on the track, the company said. Virgin Hyperloop said its track was 500 metres long, limiting how fast the pods could go.

Marcelo Blumenfeld, the industrial fellow for introducing innovation at the Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and Education, said that the technology is not feasible now and has no idea when it will be.

But, as he also points out, there is hope when we consider how days before the Wright brothers’ first flight, people didn’t believe that flying would ever be possible.

As an optimistic futurist, Blumenfeld is certain someone will “hit the right spot eventually”.

Hyperloop just needs to understand where it stands, he said, adding that “compromises need to be made between capacity, speed and rider experience in order to rival either plane journeys or high-speed rail”.

[source:cnn]