Virgin Hyperloop completes world's first human test
How many hurdles stand in the way of hyperloops becoming a commercial reality?
12 November, 2020
Credit: Sarah Lawson (Virgin Hyperloop)
- Hyperloops are a new type of transportation technology that involves vacuum tubes and passenger pods traveling at ultra-fast speeds.
- Although no commercial hyperloops exist yet, a handful of companies around the world are building test tracks, some in partnerships with national governments.
- Hyperloops could prove to be a faster and more environmentally sustainable form of transportation than flying and high-speed rail, though many obstacles remain.
<p>Virgin Hyperloop has successfully completed the world's first passenger test of hyperloop technology, a new form of high-speed transportation.</p><p>The test was conducted Sunday in a desert outside of Las Vegas, where the company built a 500-meter vacuum tube as a test track. Inside the tube, a pod carrying two passengers used electric propulsion and electromagnetic levitation to whisk above the track, reaching 107 mph in about six seconds before coming to a stop. </p><p>Virgin's test was designed to prove the safety of hyperloop technology for humans. The company, founded in 2014, hopes to build long-distance hyperloops that travel up to 600 mph, meaning a trip from New York City to Washington, D.C. would take about 30 minutes.</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"With today's successful test, we have shown that this spirit of innovation will in fact change the way people everywhere live, work, and travel in the years to come," said Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, in a <a href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/virgin-hyperloop-weve-just-completed-first-test-with-human-passengers/" target="_blank">statement</a>.</p>
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="38e01c5db1bd19f1feb690c51c470d91"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fslilcAXcas?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>It's a big milestone for the technology, which Elon Musk first proposed in 2012. Still, Virgin and other hyperloop companies have many hurdles to overcome before hyperloops become a viable form of transportation.</p><p>In addition to proving hyperloops are safe for humans at faster speeds, two major obstacles include:</p><ul><li><strong>Cost</strong>: Building and maintaining miles of hyperloop tubes would be incredibly expensive, with leaked documents from 2016 suggesting that each mile of track could cost between $84 million and $121 million. It's unclear whether hyperloops could sell enough tickets at high enough prices to turn a profit, while competing with airlines and railways.<br></li><li><strong>Land</strong>: Due to the high speeds, hyperloop tracks would need to be constructed in near-straight lines. Turns would have to be wide: A Virgin Hyperloop engineer <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/18/technology/hyperloop-virgin-vacuum-tubes.html" target="_blank">told the <em>New York Times</em></a> that a hyperloop pod would need about six miles of track to complete a 90-degree turn at 600 mph. It's unclear how or whether Virgin (or other hyperloop companies) would be able to buy or gain rights for all the necessary land to build the tracks.</li></ul>
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDc3NDU1My9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NDg5NDk4N30.2lOUUbMARmdLG0BUBQM3ZprgRXIY-3iXoyTXeW3i_hw/img.png?width=980" id="36560" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="fec059db1e66b11dbe313ad6a8e584b9" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Artist rendering of Virgin Hyperloop passenger pod
Virgin Hyperloop
<p>Hyperloop companies, which would be overseen by the Federal Railroad Administration, would also have to sort out issues related to <a href="https://www.railwaygazette.com/dont-believe-the-hype-about-hyperloop/46126.article" target="_blank">headway</a>, maintaining a vacuum in the tubes, emergency exits, government regulations, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03081060.2020.1828935" target="_blank">passenger capacity</a> and the simple possibility that people might not want to shoot through a vacuum tube at 600 mph.</p><p>(On that note: It's unlikely that hyperloops would reach average speeds of 600 mph because the pods would need to accelerate and decelerate at slower speeds for safety and comfort reasons.)</p><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDc3NDU1NC9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NjY3ODc4OH0.Pydl45w_NdIypWMHhULw5nQLFTxb44pcwDXseMSIOcs/img.png?width=980" id="6fa16" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a4905578827c0decfc369189a587667f" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Virgin Hyperloop
<p>But hyperloop technology is moving forward. In July, the U.S. government published a policy document intended to serve as a regulatory "<a href="https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/us-transportation-secretary-chao-releases-pathways-future-transportation" target="_blank">roadmap</a>" for hyperloop companies seeking to test their technology in the country. Virgin recently announced plans to build a $500 million <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/10/8/21507532/virgin-hyperloop-one-certification-center-west-virginia" target="_blank">"certification center" in West Virginia</a>, where the company will test future versions of its hyperloops, aiming to get government approval.</p><p>Virgin plans to build its first operational hyperloop in India, whose government has been in talks with the company since 2017. While still in the planning stages, the company hopes to have a commercial hyperloop up and running in India by around 2030.</p><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDc3NDU2NS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMjk1OTMyNH0.Kffm-DkpCETfNpj2_v2pQpwJ_cLeekzT9I-r8VJpA3s/img.jpg?width=980" id="218b3" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="70bfc5efab79c02fa522133047bd8975" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Underground tunnel built by the Boring Company
Boring Company
<p>Virgin isn't alone in the hyperloop space. For example, there's Los Angeles-based Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, which is working on test projects in the United Arab Emirates, France, and Germany, where the company aims to move cargo through hyperloops. The company said it hopes to open its <a href="https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/news/hyperloop-transportation-technologies-commercial-service-2022/546820/" target="_blank">first commercial operation by 2022.</a></p><p><a href="https://hardt.global/" target="_blank">Hardt Global Mobility</a>, a Dutch hyperloop startup, hopes to build a 10,000-kilometer network of hyperloops throughout Europe. Meanwhile, Elon Musk's Boring Company is building underground tunnels designed for cars traveling short distances. But the company <a href="https://www.boringcompany.com/faq" target="_blank">says</a> its tunnels "are designed and built in preparation for their eventual transition to Hyperloop."</p>Some critics of hyperloop technology say it's a <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/2016/05/10/159479/the-unbelievable-reality-of-the-impossible-hyperloop/" target="_blank">"utopian vision"</a> that's unlikely to pan out, while others note that hyperloops would essentially be maglev trains, but more expensive and faster (because the vacuum tube reduces drag). But if successful, hyperloops could not only decrease travel times, but also become a more sustainable form of transportation, <a href="https://www.constructionweekonline.com/projects-and-tenders/261881-zero-emission-powered-virgin-hyperloop-one-can-run-unplugged" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">potentially magnitudes more efficient than high-speed rail and flying.</a>
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Elon Musk promises $25,000 electric car at Tesla's 'Battery Day'
The electric car manufacturer says updates to its battery design and manufacturing process will help lower production costs.
23 September, 2020
Tesla
- The high cost of batteries is the main reason why electric vehicles cost more than gas-powered cars.
- At the company's 'Battery Day' event on Tuesday, Tesla announced a new battery design that will give its cars more power and a longer range.
- The success of Tesla's plan depends on its ability to scale up production.
<p><br></p><p>Cheaper, more efficient batteries. That's what Tesla says will allow it to offer a $25,000 electric car within the next three years. The announcements came at the company's "Battery Day" event on Tuesday afternoon in Palo Alto, California.</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"One of the things that troubles me the most is that we don't yet have a truly affordable car, and that is something that we will make in the future," Tesla CEO Elon Musk told a socially distanced audience, who were sitting in cars in a parking lot. "But in order to do that, we've got to get the cost of batteries down."</p><p>How to cut costs? Tesla is working on a design update for its batteries, and the company plans to begin manufacturing them in-house. (Panasonic currently produces Tesla batteries.) A key design update is removing a tab within the battery that connects the cell to what it powers.</p>
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="b608c8c7e239d684d054fca8ef092598"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/l6T9xIeZTds?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"You actually have a shorter path length [for the electron to travel] in a large tabless cell than you have in the smaller cell with tabs," Musk said. "So even though the cell is bigger, it actually has more power."</p><p>Tesla also plans to lower costs by using nickel instead of cobalt in its cathodes. The company said its new cathode design would reduce costs by about 75 percent, and also remove waste water from the manufacturing process. </p><p>What's more, the international cobalt supply is limited, and most of it comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where adult and child <a href="https://www.raconteur.net/business-innovation/responsible-business-2019/cobalt-mining-human-rights" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">miners are known to be exploited</a>.</p>
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDQzMTgyNi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NzE2NDc3N30.ZuuywtLYeDTXGG1A9i9H1F1NmKoQ8a0h2zWP_5O5aV0/img.jpg?width=980" id="accf9" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c3ec2a41448fa5bde4ef2a0754030c84" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Tesla Battery Day" />
Screenshot of Tesla's 'Battery Day' presentation
Tesla
<p>It's unclear when Tesla will stop using cobalt, or when it will stop sourcing its batteries from Panasonic. But Tesla claims that its new battery design and manufacturing changes will allow it to cut the cost per kilowatt-hour in half. If Tesla can successfully scale up production, the company could hit its goal of $100 per kilowatt-hour sooner than expected.</p><p>Hitting that mark could usher in the electric-car revolution, considering $100 per kilowatt-hour is <a href="https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/How-Soon-Can-Tesla-Get-Battery-Cell-Cost-Below-100-per-Kilowatt-Hour" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">generally regarded as the threshold</a> the industry needs to reach in order to make electric vehicles cost competitive with gas-powered cars. </p><p>A $25,000 electric car would also be Tesla's cheapest offering by far. The company had previously promised a $35,000 car, but only offered one at that price for a limited time. Tesla's website says its Model 3, its cheapest car, starts at about <a href="https://www.industryweek.com/leadership/article/22027923/tesla-declines-as-model-3-price-cut-renews-demand-concerns" target="_blank">$39,000.</a></p><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDQzMTgyNC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxNzY0MTU5MH0.IbgeqLBCvi13pdhaQYQ4-w5Ie3MVGapQ241bXVVAJe0/img.jpg?width=980" id="b5764" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="35f0b3e6dcab88a41f224f0f66e8c5bf" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Tesla battery" />
Photo of Tesla's new battery design
Tesla
<p>To be sure, Musk is known for promising big on his projects, but not always following through on the promised timetable. But despite having an "insanely hard" 2020, as Musk said, Tesla's had a good past couple years.<br></p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"In 2019, we had 50% growth," Musk said at the event. "And I think we'll do really pretty well in 2020, probably somewhere between 30 to 40 percent growth, despite a lot of very difficult circumstances."</p>
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Elon Musk's Neuralink successfully implanted chips in pig brains
"It's kind of like a Fitbit in your skill with tiny wires," Musk said.
29 August, 2020
Credit: Neuralink
- Neuralink is Elon Musk's company that's building brain-machine interfaces.
- The company's ultimate goal is to build an interface that connects human brains directly to computers.
- At a demonstration on Friday, Musk unveiled the company's latest progress, including that it had successfully installed its interface in the skulls of multiple pigs.
<p><br></p><p>Elon Musk's Neuralink is getting closer to its wildly ambitious goal of building a machine that links our brains to computers. This "brain-machine interface" would first be used for medical purposes, like helping paraplegics walk or treating degenerative diseases.</p><p>But the endgame is for humans to achieve "good AI symbiosis." Why? To Musk, the future of AI poses a serious existential threat to humanity, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/13/elon-musk-at-sxsw-a-i-is-more-dangerous-than-nuclear-weapons.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">even more so than nuclear weapons</a>. So, "if you can't beat em, join em," as the tech mogul said in 2017. </p><p>Neuralink's demonstration on Friday showed it's making progress on its brain-machine interface, but still has a ways to go. Here are three highlights from the event.</p>
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2ea6f28208bc94c38d37495bad0aeb3b"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DVvmgjBL74w?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
Neuralink implanted a chip inside the skull of pig
<p>At the demonstration were three pigs in pens. One pig, named Gertrude, has been living healthily for two months with the implant in its skull, according to Musk. As Gertrude snuffled around the pen, a screen displayed real-time spikes in neural activity coming from the pig's brain.<br></p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"We have a healthy and happy pig, initially shy but obviously high energy and, you know, kind of loving life, and she's had the implant for two months," Musk said.</p><p>The coin-sized implant was read-only, meaning Gertrude wasn't using it to control any device. But the demo showed that the implant was capable of wirelessly relaying neural data to external computers. What's more, a pre-recorded video unveiled at the event showed that Neuralink was able to predict the pig's limb movements with "high accuracy" during a treadmill experiment.</p><p>Musk also said Neuralink had implanted a chip into another pig, Dorothy, and then removed it without health complications.</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"What Dorothy illustrates is that you can put in the Neuralink, remove it, and be healthy, happy and indistinguishable from a normal pig," Musk said.</p><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU5NjU3MS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyMDEwMDY3OH0.gD4vCG_0gO2bBMZUYghDUn7axufzU8s4AS3kMMg794U/img.png?width=980" id="11570" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="cb93fe935e1c04667a34e8e1a48b12f6" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="\u200bNeuralink implant" />
Illustration of Neuralink implant.
Credit: Neuralink
Neuralink could enable people to replay memories
<p style="margin-left: 20px;">"The future is going to be weird," Musk said. "In the future you will be able to save and replay memories [...] You could basically store your memories as a backup and restore the memories. You could potentially download them into a new body or into a robot body."<br></p><p>Sound unnerving? Musk sort of agreed:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"This is increasingly sounding like a Black Mirror episode," Musk said, referring to the dystopian TV show.</p>Neuralink wants robots to install the interface on humans
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU5NzQyNS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwODE2Njg2MX0.WaiNYW31lb2_A4kzI_Ct6ykv-TpTKa9EKgPc_06zxk0/img.jpg?width=980" id="d79a9" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="72cc0cdd6547966b23a31e78c7eaa5a3" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="\u200bThe location of a Neuralink implant in a human skull." />The location of a Neuralink implant in a human skull.
Credit: Neuralink / Big Think
<p>Musk said Neuralink eventually wants to use a surgical robot to install the interfaces into human skulls. Neuralink has so far used robots to implant all of its chips, but these experiments have been limited to rodents, monkeys and pigs, according to Musk.<br></p><p>Neuralink hasn't revealed how much the procedure might cost for humans in the future. Musk said it'll be "quite expensive" at first, but hopes the price will eventually drop to a few thousand dollars.</p><p>"I think it should be possible to get it similar to Lasik," he said.</p><p>Of course, Neuralink still faces many safety concerns and regulatory hurdles. But in July, the company received FDA <a href="https://www.fda.gov/regulatory-information/search-fda-guidance-documents/breakthrough-devices-program" target="_blank">Breakthrough Device designation</a>, which expedites approval for technologies "that provide for more effective treatment or diagnosis of life-threatening or irreversibly debilitating diseases or conditions."</p><p>The next major step for the company will be demonstrating that its technology works safely and effectively in humans. In 2019, Musk said he hopes to begin human testing by the end of 2020, though it's unclear whether that'll happen.</p>
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Mars colony: Humanity's greatest quest
Just how close are we to setting up camp on another planet? It's complicated.
19 August, 2020
- We are closer than ever to actually putting human beings on Mars, but exactly how close is very much still up for debate. Getting there is one thing, and we eventually may not have a choice, but there are a number of problems that need to be solved before our species can call the Red Planet home.
- In this video, former NASA astronaut Leland Melvin, educator Bill Nye, science journalist Stephen Petranek, astronomer Michelle Thaller, and theoretical physicist Michio Kaku consider mankind's fascination with Mars and explain why the planet may be the most viable option for colonization. They also share difficult truths about what it will take for this expensive dream to become a reality.
- From finding a way to protect against radiation and adjusting to the difference in atmospheric pressure, to mining for ice and transporting food, to significantly lowering the cost of space travel, it certainly won't be easy. But that doesn't mean that it's not worth doing. As Leland Melvin says, the spirit of exploration and curiosity is in our DNA.
Is AI a species-level threat to humanity?
Some of the world's top minds weigh in on one of the most divisive questions in tech.
29 June, 2020
- When it comes to the question of whether AI is an existential threat to the human species, you have Elon Musk in one corner, Steven Pinker in another, and a host of incredible minds somewhere in between.
- In this video, a handful of those great minds—Elon Musk, Steven Pinker, Michio Kaku, Max Tegmark, Luis Perez-Breva, Joscha Bach and Sophia the Robot herself—weigh in on the many nuances of the debate and the degree to which AI is a threat to humanity; if it's not a species-level threat, it will still upend our world as we know it.
- What's your take on this debate? Let us know in the comments!
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