Hyperloop Tech is Now Hyperloop One

There are some big things happening at Hyperloop Technologies, or Hyperloop Tech. For starters the company has changed its name to Hyperloop One, probably to avoid confusion with its rival; Hyperloop Transportation Technologies.

More importantly; the company has announced alliances some major corporations and few interesting startup organizations. The logos of which are displayed at the bottom of its website. Some of Hyperloop One’s new partners include:

• Germany’s national railroad operator – Deutsche Bahn AG. Deutsche Bahn; German railway in English, is the second major rail company to become involved in Hyperloop, the French national railroad SNCF was the first; SCNF has reportedly invested in Hyperloop One. The Deutsche Bahn is the second largest transportation company in the world, and the largest railroad and infrastructure operator in Europe. It moves around two billion passengers a year, and its operation includes the InterCityExpress; or ICE, high-speed trains in Germany.

 

• British Engineering firm – ARUP; which designs rail stations, rail systems and airports among other infrastructure.

 

• Cargo Sous Terrain – a consortium that is working to develop a system of underground tunnels to transport between the cities of Switzerland. The company hopes to move cargo, trash, bulk cargo, packages and mail through underground tubes. It is easy to see how Hyperloop could be integrated with this company and its system.

 

• Amberg Group -A group of companies based in Switzerland that specialize in railroad, tunnel and other infrastructure projects. Among other things it operates the Hagerbach Test Gallery which contains extensive underground testing facilities for its solutions.

 

• Systra – An international consulting and engineering firm that works on trains and rail projects around the world. Based in France, one of Systra’s specialties is mass transit including light rail.

 

• KPMG – one of the big four accounting firms based in the United States.

 

• BIG or Bjarke Ingels Group – A group of architects, engineers and designers with offices in New York, London, and Copenhagen. Among its projects are a variety of engineering and green technology projects.

 

• Grid Logistics Inc. – A company that is trying to develop a new system for moving freight at the Port of Los Angeles – America’s busiest. Hyperloop One’s headquarters is in downtown LA.

 

• AECOM (NYSE: ACM) – The publicly traded US engineering and design firm. Its projects include One World Trade Center in New York City. AECOM is a publicly traded company that you can invest in. It is also working with Hyperloop One’s crowded funded competitor HTT on a rival project in Quay Valley, California. The Verge reported that deal was off. If you’re looking for a Hyperloop linked company to invest in, AECOM would be it. The Verge reported that AECOM will help build Hyperloop One’s test track in North Las Vegas and Elon Musk’s Hyperloop test track at SpaceX HQ in Hawthorne, an LA-suburb.

 

• FS Links AB – The Verge described this organization as a Baltic company that wants to build a Hyperloop between Sweden’s capital, Stockholm; and Finland’s capitol of Helsinki. FS Links AB is also involved in efforts to speed up the movement of cargo containers to and from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

 

• Arcturan Sustainable Cargo – a consortium of Grid Logistics, KPMG, Hyperloop One and AECOM; which is doing a feasibility study on the construction of a next generation system to move cargo around the Los Angeles area.

 

In addition to these partners, Hyperloop One has reportedly received investment from GE Ventures; a venture capital company owned by General Electric (NYSE: GE). Hyperloop One also announced that it has received up to $80 million in venture capital funding to finance its system.

Among other things that money will be used to finance the Hyperloop One Global Challenge which will attempt to locate a corridor for Hyperloop to operate on somewhere in the world.

Another use for that money is hiring people. Wired reported that Hyperloop One CEO Rob Lloyd has used the cash to poach 150 people from organizations as diverse as Tesla Motors (NASDAQ: TSLA), SpaceX, Boeing (NYSE: BA) and Germany’s national airline; Lufthansa. That also shows that Hyperloop One is serious about building a real company real technology. It also indicates that Hyperloop vehicles will be more like airliners than trains.

To add icing to the cake, Hyperloop One tested its electromagnetic propulsion system in the open air in North Las Vegas on May 11. The test involved a sled like vehicle speeding along an open air track.

It looks as if Hyperloop is for real and Hyperloop One could soon make it a reality. One has to wonder what giant corporations will invest in Hyperloop next?