When will the fastest train in the world be ready?
It will be able to reach around 810 miles per hour, for its creators this shows disruptive innovation that can open a trail for itself in the market.
Image courtesy of Sam Churchill at flickr.com
The main character
Dirk Ahlborn
He is the founder and CEO of the Hyperloop project, after training in financial studies, this 39-year old German moved to Italy, where he undertook several businesses related to alternative energy sources, a decade later he went to The United States to be part of The Jumpstart Fund, a 'start-up' incubator created by Nasa from which the Hyperloop was born. The Hyperloop is a solid, profitable and very necessary company project, basically, the world needs it.
This is one of the most fascinating business projects of today, powered by Elon Musk, founder of Tesla Motors and enriched by the ideas and contributions of people from all corners of the world, The Hyperloop represents many of the values that the digital economy enacts, such as the disruptive innovation, the open innovation and the lean philosophy. This supersonic train is capable of reaching the 800 miles per hour and it will be powered by solar energy, far superior to the commercial jetliner this vehicle is postulated as an alternative to land transport, including long-haul trips and urban transport.
The daily project is managed by Dirk Ahlborn (Berlin - Germany-, 1976), his CEO, who recently visited Madrid on the occasion of the South Summit event stated that it was not science fiction, in August 2013 they introduced a beta version of the project and from then they started to build the first 5 mile stage in California (USA), they hope that The Hyperloop opens to the public in 2018 or 2019.
Image courtesy of designmilk at flickr.com
On the other hand, technological advancement has been seen in the reduction of the costs, this is making the building of The Hyperloop a more affordable and viable dream.
OBJECTIVE: EMERGING COUNTRIES
In a not so short time, the great potential of The Hyperloop will lie on the emerging countries because there is where the need is greatest, pollution in cities such as Beijing or Bombay is unsustainable, The Hyperloop is a sustainable alternative environmentally and economically. It has very low operating costs enabling very fast returns on investments and high profit margins, in particular, investment in the already mentioned first stage of 5 miles will amount to 150 million dollars which will be recovered, according to Ahlborn, within a period of eight years and the estimated maximum investment is of 20 million per mile.
Actually, this is not the first time that someone thinks about building a train flowing through a magnetic low pressure tube. In 1870 there was a similar initiative planned and the first patent dates back to 1904. In 1969, the U.S. Government had two projects of transport inside tubes and recently in Switzerland they were working on another one. Why neither of these plans worked? Well, Elon thinks it’s because of bureaucratic reasons and for this reason he believes we will see The Hyperloop first in one of these countries because they will have fewer administrative obstacles.
On the other hand, technological advancement has been seen in the reduction of the costs, this is making the building of The Hyperloop a more affordable and viable dream.
To avoid that The Hyperloop falls on deaf ears as it has happened with similar initiatives, this company has fled from all traditional management schemes, it has a tiny staff of employees, the entire organization is structured under the concept of crowdsourcing or collective talent, they don't depend on a Government or a large organization, anyone can contribute to the project from anywhere in the world, etc. The minimum commitment allowed is of working 10 hours per week. In return, every helper is paid in stock options, the Chief Executive of The Hyperloop explains that there are no limits, the fear of losing control of the company or wanting to impose a point of view belongs to organizations that work the old-fashioned way, it does not belong to a company that is thinking about what the world will be like in five, ten or twenty years. No company has on its staff the best talent in the world, and much less when it is not even billing yet, why not ask for the collaboration of the best? He states that his children won’t probably have a driving license because they will not need it when the cars move on their own. The Hyperloop currently counts on more than 450 partners in more than twenty different countries around the world, they work in teams of five to nine people and are mainly coordinated through the Internet.
BUT IT WANTS TO GO PUBLIC
To consolidate this atypical structure and fit in the employees in the capital, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies plans to go public and with this it plans to raise an estimate of $ 100 million, let’s not forget they also have Elon Musk’s experience in this matter because Tesla’s IPO is very successful.
