On December 22, according to the Financial Associated Press: According to the latest information from people familiar with the matter, Musk's hyperloop startup Hyperloop One is about to close due to the failure to obtain any operational hyperloop (hyperloop) contract.
It is reported that the Los Angeles-based company will ** all its remaining assets, and the employment of its remaining employees will also end on December 31 this year.
In 2013, Musk proposed the Hyperloop concept, hoping to transport passengers at speeds of 760 miles (1,223 kilometers) an hour through a vacuum pipe, which caused a stir at the time and reignited interest in the technology.
Subsequently, Hyperloop One was officially launched in 2014 and raised more than $400 million in funding, mainly from UAE shipping company DP World and British billionaire Richard Branson.
However, the fledgling industry has faltered, with Hyperloop One never winning a contract to build a working hyperloop, and the company, which has now laid off most of its staff, is trying to ** its remaining assets, including test tracks and machines. Hyperloop One once built a small test track near Las Vegas to develop its transportation technology. In 2020, the company conducted its first and only manned test, but the top speed was only 100 miles per hour, well below the target level.
Later, under the impetus of DP World, Hyperloop One abandoned the idea of transporting passengers and instead focused on cargo technology. DP World now reportedly owns the intellectual property of Hyperloop One, as well as all physical assets.
In addition, there are other obstacles in the company's path: co-founder Shervin Pishevar resigned after being exposed to sexual harassment;Former director Ziavuddin Magomedov in Moscow** on charges of fraud and **.
After years of hard work, although the large-scale hyperloop has not yet been built, the concept still attracts quite a few entrepreneurs. Several Hyperloop companies are at various stages of building prototype equipment, including Hardt Hyperloop, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies Incand SwissPod Technologies.
Musk has also pushed the field forward, hosting a series of competitions for student-designed hyperloops and building a now-demolished test track. He also founded Boring Co., a tunneling company, has been developing related technologies. But Boring is now digging underground passages for Tesla, not for the Hyperloop.
Critics argue that while the hyperloop may be technically feasible, it remains just a "fog piece" (referring to a product that began to be advertised during or before development, but may not be released), a "utopian vision" that is economically impossible to achieve.
And proponents say it's an "imminent" technology that, on the face of it, could be years away.
[**Finance Associated Press].
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