The Hyperloop Looks Different From Dubai

You can see the future from the 112th floor of the Burj Khalifa. But you have to squint.

by Georgia Tolley
December 12, 2016

Here in the futuristic Middle Eastern city of Dubai, along with the deserts of Nevada, an unbelievably ambitious idea is fast becoming reality: A plan to suck commuters and people late for birthday parties through tubes at 700 miles an hour. A plan to slash journey times from hours to minutes. A plan to reinvent transportation to eliminate the barriers of time and distance — using apps, autonomous vehicles, and a vacuum.

Entrepreneur Elon Musk introduced the idea of Hyperloop in 2013, with his white paper “Hyperloop Alpha.” But busy with SpaceX, Tesla, and solar panels, Musk handed over the idea to the world, with a challenge to the globe’s engineers to effectively create this generation’s Concorde. It was a charge the team at Los Angeles-based Hyperloop One were only too happy to adopt, and they haven’t hung around. In less than two years, the start-up has raised more than $160 million, assembled a team of more than 200 engineers, and developed a 10,0…