I'll have to dream about something else. The ambitious Hyperloop project is being closed, the company is selling off its assets

December 24, 18:15 Share:

Hyperloop goes out of business (Photo: Photo: Hyperloop TT)

Futuristic transportation company Hyperloop One, which worked on the Hyperloop high-speed vacuum train concept, is shutting down.

At the beginning of 2022, Hyperloop One employed more than 200 people. By now, the company has already laid off most of its employees and is trying to sell its remaining assets, including the test track and equipment, Bloomberg writes, citing informed sources.

The company's Los Angeles office is closed, and the remaining employees to oversee the sale of assets will cease work on December 31, 2023. At the beginning of the year, Hyperloop One, officially known as Hyperloop Technologies, merged with another company. At the same time, the price of shares was mainly reduced to zero cents. Shareholders of the new company became the sole owners of Hyperloop One.

Since 2016, the majority stake has been owned by Dubai-based conglomerate DP World, which is believed to be behind the latest changes to the company's structure. The startup's intellectual property was also transferred to DP World.

Recall that Hyperloop One was founded in 2014, a year after billionaire Elon Musk publicly presented the concept of Hyperloop as a fifth mode of transport.. At first, Hyperloop was conceived as an overhead pipeline located on supports, inside which at a speed of from 480 to 1102 km/h ( depending on the landscape) single transport capsules 25-30 m long move in one direction at intervals of 30 seconds.

Although the startup has raised more than $450 million since its founding in 2014, no large-scale hyperloop has been built in all that time.. Only a small test track was created near Las Vegas. The test track has now been demolished and turned into a parking lot.

In addition to Musk, the startup was also supported by billionaire Richard Branson. For a time, the company even reflected his involvement in the name, which was changed to Virgin Hyperloop One. “Virgin” was removed from the name after Hyperloop decided last year to focus on cargo rather than people.

Read also: In pursuit of sound. The Hyperloop vacuum train set a speed record in Korea. Surprise for Omelyan. Musk said that he did not seriously intend to build a hyperloop