A team from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) in Germany just set a new speed record for Hyperloop travel. The high-speed travel technology continues to develop at a rapid pace.
The top speed of 463 km/h or 288 mph was hit at the annual SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition, where engineers battle it out to come up with the fastest possible pod designs and methods for propelling them forward.
While putting camparision, the target speeds for a fully functioning Hyperloop, suggested by SpaceX founder Elon Musk, are 1,200 km/h or 745 mph.
The TUM pod, which weighs approximately 70 kilograms (154 lbs), uses a carbon fibre shell and a magnetic levitation system to keep itself buoyed above the Hyperloop speed track.
The first Hyperloop-related route to open could well be the one underneath Los Angeles, being constructed by Musk’s Boring Company. This particular implementation is designed to carry standard cars along rails rather than pods, so it’s not a true Hyperloop just a step along the way.
You can expect the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition to play a major role in the development of Hyperloop tech in the future, and it’s likely that we will see that speed record broken again and again in the years to come.