Today, HyperloopTT and Capgemini Engineering (previously Altran) announced an agreement to accelerate HyperloopTT’s commercialization efforts with 100 additional engineers. The Capgemini Engineering engineers will integrate with our Toulouse teams to optimize the HyperloopTT system at the world’s only full-scale hyperloop test track.
Hyperloop systems have never been closer to commercialization than they are today. The world needs ways to spur economic recovery due to the coronavirus and the International Monetary Fund has urged governments to look towards creating green infrastructure as a low-cost, high-impact solution for economic recovery.
This sentiment is not the IMF’s alone. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the European Parliament and the United States Congress have called for the development of sustainable infrastructure, including the hyperloop, as part of broader economic recovery plans.
Adding Capgemini Engineering’s top-tier engineering expertise in aerospace, aeronautics, and systems engineering solidifies the HyperloopTT system as the leading near-term sustainable infrastructure project.
The strength of a collaboration model
Developing a new-to-the-world transportation system is a long-term project. Since being founded as the first company pursuing hyperloop development, HyperloopTT has operated in a unique crowd-collaboration model powered by passionate experts.
Our model connects global industry experts and facilitates collaboration to develop commercial hyperloop systems and supporting technologies. The asset-light flexibility of our model enables us to quickly scale-up key capabilities and make considerable technical advancements.
When we set out to develop our vacuum system, we could have produced the capabilities in-house. Instead, we partnered with Leybold, the inventor of the vacuum. We engage industry leaders by creating mutually-beneficial partnerships that provide an equity stake in our success.
Our agreement with Capgemini Engineering is no different as it further leverages our hybrid collaborative framework to quickly scale up key technical resources. Our ability to expand our engineering capabilities in a lean way exemplifies our model’s power as this partnership will significantly increase our system’s preparation for commercialization.
The model’s ability to create highly impactful partnerships has driven commercial hyperloop system development by continually making technical advancements while maintaining a low burn rate. Our capital efficiency is key to our technological advances and company prosperity.
Advancing the hyperloop regulatory environment
I have always felt that the biggest obstacle to commercial hyperloop adoption is not technical, but regulatory. All necessary technical components of hyperloop systems have been successfully tested at scale and are on track to be fully optimized before commercialization. However, the timeline for commercialization has always been dictated by regulation.
Our continued European-based development has accelerated the adoption of commercial hyperloop systems across the continent. Since reaching an agreement with the city of Toulouse in 2017, HyperloopTT has led international hyperloop regulation efforts from our full-scale test site. After developing the world’s first hyperloop insurance framework with Munich Re, we completed the first set of safety and certification guidelines for hyperloop systems with TÜV SÜD and delivered them to the European Commission. HyperloopTT is committed to demonstrating that hyperloop is a sustainable near-term infrastructure project that can solve the congestion, sustainability, air quality, infrastructure, and competition concerns that face the European Union.
While we have been developing safety standards for the hyperloop system, our dedicated feasibility study teams have demonstrated the transformative economic impact of hyperloop systems.
In December of 2019, we released the Great Lakes Hyperloop Feasibility Study, a 160-page comprehensive analysis of a commercial hyperloop system’s economic viability connecting Cleveland to Chicago and Pittsburgh. The results from that study showed the unparalleled financial benefit hyperloop systems bring to regions. Along the connected corridor, the HyperloopTT system is projected to create 900,000 person-years of work, increase regional incomes by $47.6 billion, and increase property value by $74.8 billion. The HyperloopTT system is capable of operating profitably without government subsidies and has a positive benefit-cost ratio of 2.20.
We have demonstrated the feasibility of safe hyperloop systems and the economic benefits they bring to connected regions. Now we are broadening our engineering capabilities to usher in hyperloop regulation with the safest and most sustainable mobility solution. It has been a long journey from our founding to get to this point, but our new-to-the-world approach to collaboration continues to propel us. The HyperloopTT European R&D Center at Aerospace Valley is now the epicenter for hyperloop engineering worldwide.
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CONTACT:
Ben Cooke
HyperloopTT Head of Media Relations
310-720-1214
