Today’s release of the first-ever completed certification guidelines for Hyperloop systems allows the world to see that the Hyperloop is safe and on it’s way to adoption. I attribute this landmark achievement to our dedicated teams, both core and contributor, who keep bringing the hyperloop closer to reality every day.
In 2013, HyperloopTT began developed a roadmap for achieving the hyperloop, prioritizing safety and regulations, with three key requirements:
- A business model that allowed for the long-term development of revolutionary large-scale mobility infrastructure.
- The development of key technical components required to prove feasibility and create the most sustainable and energy-efficient mobility solution.
- The creation of detailed public safety guidelines outlining the safety and certification requirements of hyperloop transportation systems.
After creating the world’s first and largest crowd-powered organization and integrating and improving Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories patents on Passive Magnetic Levitation into our Capsule design we achieved the first two items on this list. Today’s release of detailed public safety guidelines outlining the safety and certification requirements of hyperloop transportation systems, proves the safety and feasibility of near-future hyperloop systems.
We have not been progressing alone and are pleased to see a consortium of governments, and private companies around the world studying and implementing hyperloop technology. It’s not a matter of if anymore, it’s a matter of when.
Creating New Transportation Regulations
The pursuit of the hyperloop was never solely a technical task. However, to achieve our goal of providing guidance to regulatory agencies around the world, we had to develop a critical technical understanding of the components of the entire system.
The regulatory void pre-dating this release was daunting and allowed uncertainty about hyperloop systems to spread. Instead of shrinking from the uncertainty of the void we went to work defining the necessary certification requirements to realize a commercial system. We started by developing and outlining the technical components needed to operate the system. In 2016, we partnered with leading global insurer Munich Re to assess the insurability and feasibility of the system.
Munich Re finalized its risk analysis in 2017, deeming the Hyperloop system both feasible and insurable, and declared that, “It is Munich Re’s belief that bringing to fruition the Hyperloop proposition is one of the few genuine activities at the edge of human endeavor.”
Proving feasibility and insurability was important, but human endeavor does not stop at the theoretical. To realize the potential societal altering benefits of the hyperloop, we had to begin the conversation around certifying future commercial projects. To create a framework that could inform governments and the public of the feasibility and safety requirements of the system we partnered with one of the world’s best, the TÜV SÜD Group, an industry-leading testing, certification, auditing, and advisory services organization, to develop the guidelines.
The TÜV SÜD guidelines analyzed existing regulations and experiences from rail, metro systems, cable cars, aviation, and the process industry, and aligned them to the specific requirements of hyperloop technology. In 2019, I had the opportunity to present the finalized guidelines to Elisabeth Werner, The Director of Land Transport at DG Move of the European Commission, along with Ernst Donislreiter, CEO of TÜV SÜD.
Since the guidelines were finalized, HyperloopTT has hosted members of the European Commission and USDOT at the world’s first and only full-scale hyperloop test system at our European Hyperloop Research and Development Center in Toulouse. Our efforts to create industry unifying certification guidelines continue to advocate for the wide-scale adoption of Hyperloop systems and we believe that releasing these guidelines to the public will help expedite the formalization of government standards.
The world is looking for sustainable and innovative growth opportunities to define a post-pandemic world and hyperloop is the near-future infrastructure project that can get people to work today and empower society for generations to come.
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CONTACT:
Ben Cooke
HyperloopTT Head of Media Relations
310-720-1214