1 00:00:04,480 --> 00:00:12,840 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there, 2 00:00:12,840 --> 00:00:16,120 Speaker 1: and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. 3 00:00:16,160 --> 00:00:19,200 Speaker 1: I'm an executive producer with iHeart Podcasts and How the 4 00:00:19,280 --> 00:00:23,480 Speaker 1: Tech Are Yet. So I've been doing several episodes on 5 00:00:23,680 --> 00:00:26,520 Speaker 1: big news stories of twenty twenty three, and I think 6 00:00:26,560 --> 00:00:29,880 Speaker 1: you could make a strong case that this shouldn't count 7 00:00:29,920 --> 00:00:33,080 Speaker 1: among them. But it is the conclusion of a pretty 8 00:00:33,159 --> 00:00:37,320 Speaker 1: darn dramatic journey in tech, a journey that, fittingly enough 9 00:00:37,840 --> 00:00:41,720 Speaker 1: is about transportation and how a blue sky concept turned 10 00:00:41,760 --> 00:00:45,000 Speaker 1: out to be perhaps a bit too far into the clouds. 11 00:00:45,360 --> 00:00:48,120 Speaker 1: So we are talking about the end of the company 12 00:00:48,520 --> 00:00:53,640 Speaker 1: Hyperloop one. First, let's turn back the clocks a whole 13 00:00:53,720 --> 00:00:57,400 Speaker 1: decade to the spring of twenty thirteen. That's when Elon 14 00:00:57,520 --> 00:01:00,600 Speaker 1: Musk published a blog post that gave to tech about 15 00:01:00,600 --> 00:01:03,960 Speaker 1: something he had been hinting about for a while since 16 00:01:04,040 --> 00:01:06,959 Speaker 1: late twenty twelve at least, which was a new concept 17 00:01:07,200 --> 00:01:11,840 Speaker 1: for mass transit that could work within or between cities. 18 00:01:12,200 --> 00:01:16,880 Speaker 1: It involved an enclosed tube within which aluminum pods would 19 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:20,119 Speaker 1: zip about at incredible speeds up to eight hundred miles 20 00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:23,640 Speaker 1: per hour or nearly one two hundred and ninety kilometers 21 00:01:23,680 --> 00:01:30,280 Speaker 1: per hour, and that this would transform travel between cities 22 00:01:30,319 --> 00:01:33,560 Speaker 1: that were too far apart to easily drive between, but 23 00:01:33,680 --> 00:01:37,040 Speaker 1: perhaps too close together to take a flight from one 24 00:01:37,040 --> 00:01:39,840 Speaker 1: to the other. So how would this all work well. 25 00:01:39,880 --> 00:01:43,520 Speaker 1: For one thing, the idea was to pump out most 26 00:01:43,640 --> 00:01:46,680 Speaker 1: of the air that was inside the tube. This would 27 00:01:46,760 --> 00:01:51,600 Speaker 1: help reduce wind resistance significantly. The pods would use what 28 00:01:51,640 --> 00:01:54,680 Speaker 1: were called air bearings. That is, they would use a 29 00:01:54,680 --> 00:01:57,200 Speaker 1: cushion of air to hover inside the tube, kind of 30 00:01:57,200 --> 00:02:01,400 Speaker 1: like an air hockey table works and powerful electro magnets 31 00:02:01,400 --> 00:02:04,960 Speaker 1: would provide the propulsive force to push, slash pull the 32 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:08,640 Speaker 1: pods down the track. Passengers would sit in the pods. 33 00:02:08,919 --> 00:02:11,600 Speaker 1: They would accelerate up to top speed at a rate 34 00:02:11,639 --> 00:02:14,400 Speaker 1: that you know wouldn't turn them into soup, and similarly, 35 00:02:14,480 --> 00:02:17,880 Speaker 1: they would decelerate at a rate that would be gentle 36 00:02:18,040 --> 00:02:21,760 Speaker 1: as they neared their destination. Actually, Musk had a couple 37 00:02:21,840 --> 00:02:24,480 Speaker 1: of different variations on this idea so early on, he 38 00:02:24,520 --> 00:02:29,160 Speaker 1: suggested that these pods would have a pair of compressor fans, 39 00:02:29,200 --> 00:02:30,680 Speaker 1: one on the front and one on the back, And 40 00:02:30,720 --> 00:02:33,160 Speaker 1: the idea is that the ones in the front would 41 00:02:33,200 --> 00:02:36,359 Speaker 1: take the air ahead of the pod and transfer them 42 00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:38,200 Speaker 1: to the fans that are in the back, so it 43 00:02:38,240 --> 00:02:40,239 Speaker 1: goes behind the pod so that the pod doesn't have 44 00:02:40,320 --> 00:02:43,239 Speaker 1: to actually push through the air. I have no idea 45 00:02:43,720 --> 00:02:46,520 Speaker 1: how that would have worked at speed, but that was 46 00:02:46,560 --> 00:02:50,799 Speaker 1: the concept Musk outlined. Anyway. Musk estimated that would cost 47 00:02:50,840 --> 00:02:53,760 Speaker 1: around six billion dollars to build a track between Los 48 00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:58,040 Speaker 1: Angeles and San Francisco, and that a trip on this 49 00:02:58,240 --> 00:03:01,520 Speaker 1: hyper loop would take about half an hour to go 50 00:03:01,639 --> 00:03:04,680 Speaker 1: between those cities. If you were to drive that route, 51 00:03:04,840 --> 00:03:06,920 Speaker 1: it would take you nearly six hours to do so. 52 00:03:07,600 --> 00:03:11,000 Speaker 1: Musk's idea seemed to target cities that were just the 53 00:03:11,080 --> 00:03:13,920 Speaker 1: right distance apart, so that the trip would take you know, 54 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:16,040 Speaker 1: a lot less time than it would driving, but it 55 00:03:16,080 --> 00:03:18,960 Speaker 1: would make more sense to take the hyperloop than it 56 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:23,840 Speaker 1: would to take a flight. Musk was essentially telling the world, Hey, 57 00:03:23,840 --> 00:03:26,560 Speaker 1: wouldn't it be cool if we could do this? And yes, 58 00:03:26,600 --> 00:03:28,519 Speaker 1: it would be cool if we could do that. It'd 59 00:03:28,560 --> 00:03:30,080 Speaker 1: be cool if we could do a lot of things. 60 00:03:30,600 --> 00:03:32,680 Speaker 1: But he was really hoping that someone else would jump 61 00:03:32,680 --> 00:03:34,920 Speaker 1: in and try and actually do it. He said he 62 00:03:34,920 --> 00:03:37,800 Speaker 1: couldn't really afford to take time away from his other companies, 63 00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:41,520 Speaker 1: those being Tesla and SpaceX, and then spend that time 64 00:03:41,520 --> 00:03:46,240 Speaker 1: on the hyperloop concept. Apparently, transforming transportation is not worthy 65 00:03:46,280 --> 00:03:50,280 Speaker 1: of distraction, but running Twitter into the ground is. Sorry. 66 00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:52,400 Speaker 1: I can only go so long while talking about Musk 67 00:03:52,440 --> 00:03:56,840 Speaker 1: before I start getting snarky. Anyway, while Musk would dip 68 00:03:56,880 --> 00:03:59,640 Speaker 1: his toe a little bit in the field, he went 69 00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:02,760 Speaker 1: so far to launch the Boring Company, which at least 70 00:04:03,040 --> 00:04:05,680 Speaker 1: initially sounded like it was meant to dig tunnels that 71 00:04:05,720 --> 00:04:09,360 Speaker 1: would house hyper loop tubes. The real push was to 72 00:04:09,360 --> 00:04:12,440 Speaker 1: inspire other people to embrace the concept of hyperloop and 73 00:04:12,520 --> 00:04:15,560 Speaker 1: try to make their own version. One person who Musk 74 00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:19,400 Speaker 1: spoke with actually before publishing that blog post was an 75 00:04:19,400 --> 00:04:24,320 Speaker 1: investor named Shervin Pishevar. The two had talked about the 76 00:04:24,400 --> 00:04:29,480 Speaker 1: idea privately, and Pishevar repeatedly encouraged Musk to go public 77 00:04:29,880 --> 00:04:33,159 Speaker 1: with his concept, and once that happened, Pishevar founded a 78 00:04:33,320 --> 00:04:39,040 Speaker 1: company initially called Hyperloop Technologies. This was in late twenty fourteen. 79 00:04:39,920 --> 00:04:43,120 Speaker 1: One person whom Bishevar reached out to was a former 80 00:04:43,160 --> 00:04:48,640 Speaker 1: engineer for SpaceX named Brogan Bam Brogen and no, that 81 00:04:48,760 --> 00:04:50,880 Speaker 1: was not the name his parents gave him, but he 82 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:53,280 Speaker 1: changed it after getting married, when he and his wife 83 00:04:53,600 --> 00:04:56,120 Speaker 1: sort of merged their names together, and I think that's 84 00:04:56,200 --> 00:05:00,640 Speaker 1: kind of sweet anyway, While engineers got to work trying 85 00:05:00,680 --> 00:05:03,839 Speaker 1: to figure out how to turn this hyper loop idea 86 00:05:03,880 --> 00:05:08,440 Speaker 1: into a practical reality. Pishevar helped secure funding through various 87 00:05:08,440 --> 00:05:12,240 Speaker 1: investment rounds and he did okay with that. He raised 88 00:05:12,320 --> 00:05:15,880 Speaker 1: tens of millions of dollars in the process. But this 89 00:05:16,120 --> 00:05:20,680 Speaker 1: was a very very expensive endeavor, right, tens of millions 90 00:05:21,120 --> 00:05:23,960 Speaker 1: doesn't go that far when you're talking about designing and 91 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:26,400 Speaker 1: then building out a prototype of something that would be 92 00:05:26,480 --> 00:05:30,440 Speaker 1: a brand new transportation infrastructure. Now, the first couple of 93 00:05:30,480 --> 00:05:34,520 Speaker 1: years at Hyperloop Technologies were fairly quiet. The company was 94 00:05:34,600 --> 00:05:38,760 Speaker 1: hiring engineers and building test facilities and prototypes that kind 95 00:05:38,760 --> 00:05:41,240 Speaker 1: of thing. They built a test or started to build 96 00:05:41,240 --> 00:05:44,680 Speaker 1: a test track out in Nevada. Eventually they would complete that. 97 00:05:45,960 --> 00:05:49,200 Speaker 1: In twenty sixteen, the company actually changed its name from 98 00:05:49,279 --> 00:05:54,240 Speaker 1: Hyperloop Technologies to hyper Loop One. It also migrated away 99 00:05:54,279 --> 00:05:57,479 Speaker 1: from the air bearings design that Musk wrote about in 100 00:05:57,560 --> 00:06:02,159 Speaker 1: his blog, and instead they looked to a magnetic levitation design. 101 00:06:02,560 --> 00:06:05,240 Speaker 1: So maglev trains have been a thing for a while, 102 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:07,719 Speaker 1: and it kind of made sense to reduce the number 103 00:06:07,760 --> 00:06:10,320 Speaker 1: of brand new technologies that you were going to rely 104 00:06:10,440 --> 00:06:14,479 Speaker 1: upon and replace some of them with tested and proven ones. Like, 105 00:06:14,520 --> 00:06:17,360 Speaker 1: if you're using all new technologies all down the line 106 00:06:17,360 --> 00:06:21,240 Speaker 1: in your very complex system, something's not going to go right. 107 00:06:21,839 --> 00:06:24,279 Speaker 1: So if you look at other companies in the hyperloop space, 108 00:06:24,320 --> 00:06:27,719 Speaker 1: you'll also find that most of them deviate to some 109 00:06:27,839 --> 00:06:31,680 Speaker 1: degree from the original proposal. Some of them deviate wildly 110 00:06:31,720 --> 00:06:36,239 Speaker 1: from the original concept of hyperloop anyway. By early twenty sixteen, 111 00:06:36,320 --> 00:06:40,760 Speaker 1: Bambrogen had been named Chief Technology Officer or CTO, and 112 00:06:40,800 --> 00:06:44,320 Speaker 1: a guy named Rob Lloyd was the CEO. But drama 113 00:06:44,440 --> 00:06:46,880 Speaker 1: was right around the corner. And you can't really take 114 00:06:46,920 --> 00:06:49,480 Speaker 1: corners with a hyperloop design because you need these really 115 00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:53,760 Speaker 1: like long, graceful curves to be able to change direction. Anyway, 116 00:06:54,480 --> 00:06:57,000 Speaker 1: the summer of twenty sixteen would see a real shakeup 117 00:06:57,080 --> 00:07:02,159 Speaker 1: at Hyperloop one. Bambrogen suddenly left the company. Now, the 118 00:07:02,200 --> 00:07:05,000 Speaker 1: official statement from hyper Loop one was that Bambrogen had 119 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:09,720 Speaker 1: decided to take a step back, but Bambrogen himself would 120 00:07:09,720 --> 00:07:12,920 Speaker 1: contradict that statement, and he did so through a lawsuit. 121 00:07:13,280 --> 00:07:16,000 Speaker 1: He was also joined by three other employees who brought 122 00:07:16,080 --> 00:07:20,960 Speaker 1: charges against the company. Bambrogen accused top executives of hyper 123 00:07:20,960 --> 00:07:24,480 Speaker 1: Loop one of engaging in financial shenanigans and abuse. He 124 00:07:24,520 --> 00:07:28,800 Speaker 1: was essentially saying people were funneling money away from the 125 00:07:28,840 --> 00:07:32,080 Speaker 1: company for their own personal benefit. He also said that 126 00:07:32,120 --> 00:07:35,040 Speaker 1: he had been threatened physically by leaders at the company, 127 00:07:35,320 --> 00:07:39,080 Speaker 1: and he accused his co founder Pishevar of leveraging hyper 128 00:07:39,120 --> 00:07:42,760 Speaker 1: Loop one to essentially promote himself. So Bambrogen was saying 129 00:07:42,760 --> 00:07:45,800 Speaker 1: that executive leadership was more concerned about using the company 130 00:07:45,840 --> 00:07:50,120 Speaker 1: to upgrade their personal status rather than, you know, build 131 00:07:50,160 --> 00:07:54,560 Speaker 1: a new kind of transportation. The company countersued Bambrogen and 132 00:07:54,600 --> 00:07:58,320 Speaker 1: accused him of plotting to take over the company. His 133 00:07:58,480 --> 00:08:00,280 Speaker 1: whole thing was that he was going to over throw 134 00:08:00,400 --> 00:08:03,360 Speaker 1: leadership and take over because he wasn't satisfied with where 135 00:08:03,360 --> 00:08:06,640 Speaker 1: the company was going. And it all got very melodramatic, 136 00:08:07,400 --> 00:08:10,880 Speaker 1: but the parties settled out of court in late twenty sixteen. 137 00:08:11,240 --> 00:08:14,400 Speaker 1: Bambrogen went on to found another company called a Rivo 138 00:08:14,840 --> 00:08:19,920 Speaker 1: or a revo if you prefer Riivo. Ultimately, that company 139 00:08:20,040 --> 00:08:23,800 Speaker 1: had trouble securing funds and it shut down in twenty eighteen. 140 00:08:23,880 --> 00:08:26,120 Speaker 1: But anyway, let's get back to the hyper loop story. 141 00:08:26,640 --> 00:08:30,160 Speaker 1: So we're going back to twenty seventeen now, because Bambrogen 142 00:08:30,200 --> 00:08:34,240 Speaker 1: has left. He files his lawsuit, the company counter suites. 143 00:08:34,559 --> 00:08:37,600 Speaker 1: They all settle out of court. And now in twenty seventeen, 144 00:08:37,640 --> 00:08:42,559 Speaker 1: that's when Richard Branson's company, Virgin made a significant investment 145 00:08:42,640 --> 00:08:46,720 Speaker 1: in hyper Loop one, essentially acquiring the company. So the 146 00:08:46,760 --> 00:08:51,080 Speaker 1: company rebranded itself again and now called itself Virgin hyper 147 00:08:51,120 --> 00:08:55,800 Speaker 1: Loop one. Later in twenty seventeen, the company lost its 148 00:08:55,920 --> 00:08:59,680 Speaker 1: other co founder, that of Shervin Pishevar, the investor who 149 00:09:00,200 --> 00:09:03,320 Speaker 1: was really the driving force behind the company being founded 150 00:09:03,360 --> 00:09:06,000 Speaker 1: in the first place. So why was that, Well, the 151 00:09:06,040 --> 00:09:08,640 Speaker 1: reason for his departure was that multiple women had stepped 152 00:09:08,679 --> 00:09:12,720 Speaker 1: forward and accused him of sexual misconduct. Those were charges 153 00:09:12,720 --> 00:09:16,080 Speaker 1: that he denied, and he claimed it was actually part 154 00:09:16,120 --> 00:09:19,920 Speaker 1: of a coordinated smear campaign. True or not. He stepped 155 00:09:19,960 --> 00:09:23,000 Speaker 1: down from the company, or was told to step down. 156 00:09:23,040 --> 00:09:26,240 Speaker 1: He maintains it was his decision. Others said that he 157 00:09:26,320 --> 00:09:29,280 Speaker 1: had no decision in the matter. The board of directors 158 00:09:29,320 --> 00:09:34,000 Speaker 1: told him to resign, and Branson essentially took over Virgin 159 00:09:34,120 --> 00:09:37,960 Speaker 1: Hyperloop one. Now, while all this was going on, the 160 00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:40,400 Speaker 1: engineers at the company were still just trying to develop 161 00:09:40,440 --> 00:09:45,760 Speaker 1: the technology and hoping that hyperloop would remain solid around them. 162 00:09:46,200 --> 00:09:49,200 Speaker 1: Virgin hyper Loop one built a test track in Nevada, 163 00:09:49,280 --> 00:09:52,520 Speaker 1: as I said, and ran multiple tests of maglev technology. 164 00:09:52,800 --> 00:09:56,640 Speaker 1: In fact, in twenty twenty, the company even conducted its 165 00:09:56,720 --> 00:10:01,160 Speaker 1: first and only test with human passengers inside a pod 166 00:10:01,760 --> 00:10:05,520 Speaker 1: before they had all been unmanned tests. The test track 167 00:10:05,600 --> 00:10:08,120 Speaker 1: wasn't nearly long enough to push the pod to the 168 00:10:08,120 --> 00:10:11,719 Speaker 1: insane speeds that Musk had envisioned, but it still got 169 00:10:11,800 --> 00:10:13,880 Speaker 1: up to around one hundred miles per hour or you know, 170 00:10:13,920 --> 00:10:16,080 Speaker 1: like one hundred and sixty kilometers per hour, so still 171 00:10:16,120 --> 00:10:18,880 Speaker 1: really fast, just not fast enough to cut a trip 172 00:10:18,920 --> 00:10:21,840 Speaker 1: from you know, Los Angeles to San Francisco to just 173 00:10:21,880 --> 00:10:26,440 Speaker 1: thirty minutes. The company changed names again in twenty twenty. 174 00:10:26,720 --> 00:10:29,840 Speaker 1: It dropped the one from its name and it became 175 00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:32,880 Speaker 1: Virgin hyper Loop. And no, it would not be the 176 00:10:32,960 --> 00:10:36,840 Speaker 1: last time that the company would change names. Okay, we've 177 00:10:36,880 --> 00:10:39,120 Speaker 1: got some more drama to get through before we get 178 00:10:39,160 --> 00:10:42,800 Speaker 1: to that. I'm gonna reduce the drama here by taking 179 00:10:42,800 --> 00:10:54,440 Speaker 1: a break to thank our sponsors. Okay, we're back. We 180 00:10:54,600 --> 00:10:57,640 Speaker 1: just left off in twenty twenty with Virgin hyper Loop 181 00:10:57,760 --> 00:11:02,319 Speaker 1: one becoming Virgin hyper loop, and things went a little 182 00:11:02,360 --> 00:11:05,720 Speaker 1: quiet after that. You know, there was still work being 183 00:11:05,720 --> 00:11:08,559 Speaker 1: done at the company. There were still plans for tests, 184 00:11:08,640 --> 00:11:14,040 Speaker 1: there were still plans to deploy hyperop transportation around the 185 00:11:14,080 --> 00:11:18,839 Speaker 1: world in the future. In early twenty twenty two, the 186 00:11:18,920 --> 00:11:24,040 Speaker 1: company announced a major change in its focus. Rather than 187 00:11:24,080 --> 00:11:28,040 Speaker 1: building out a transportation system meant for human passengers, the 188 00:11:28,080 --> 00:11:30,640 Speaker 1: company said the new goal was to build a way 189 00:11:30,679 --> 00:11:36,319 Speaker 1: to transport cargo. Now, this was a pretty big blow 190 00:11:36,600 --> 00:11:40,400 Speaker 1: to the kind of utopian view of what hyper loop 191 00:11:40,480 --> 00:11:43,680 Speaker 1: was meant to be, but representatives of the company said 192 00:11:43,679 --> 00:11:47,240 Speaker 1: the change was due to how the pandemic affected travel, 193 00:11:47,760 --> 00:11:51,160 Speaker 1: as well as how it highlighted bottlenecks in the supply chain, 194 00:11:51,679 --> 00:11:56,760 Speaker 1: and arguably this move was an effort to address a 195 00:11:56,800 --> 00:12:00,920 Speaker 1: real world need. The supply chain was, without question a 196 00:12:00,960 --> 00:12:04,400 Speaker 1: delicate thing, and as we learned through the pandemic, a 197 00:12:04,440 --> 00:12:07,360 Speaker 1: small disruption in the supply chain could ripple out and 198 00:12:07,520 --> 00:12:14,200 Speaker 1: escalate into huge problems. Also, moving stuff around carries way 199 00:12:14,280 --> 00:12:19,760 Speaker 1: less risk than moving people around. With people, you have 200 00:12:19,800 --> 00:12:22,320 Speaker 1: all these troublesome regulations that you have to work within. 201 00:12:22,720 --> 00:12:25,360 Speaker 1: Just so you know, folks, don't get reduced to goo 202 00:12:25,760 --> 00:12:27,240 Speaker 1: as you try to get them from point A to 203 00:12:27,280 --> 00:12:30,400 Speaker 1: point B. Ideally, you don't want your cargo to become 204 00:12:30,440 --> 00:12:33,439 Speaker 1: goo either, but if it does, it's way less of 205 00:12:33,480 --> 00:12:36,600 Speaker 1: a headache than if you were moving people around. A 206 00:12:36,720 --> 00:12:39,160 Speaker 1: change in focus to cargo was seen as something that 207 00:12:39,160 --> 00:12:43,640 Speaker 1: would ease engineering and regulatory challenges and make the hyper 208 00:12:43,720 --> 00:12:48,720 Speaker 1: loop a more practical and potentially realizable goal. Late in 209 00:12:48,800 --> 00:12:52,400 Speaker 1: twenty twenty two, Virgin removed its branding from the company 210 00:12:52,600 --> 00:12:56,320 Speaker 1: and once again it became hyper Loop one and Branson 211 00:12:56,400 --> 00:13:00,880 Speaker 1: pretty much you got out of Hyperlop one at this point. 212 00:13:01,760 --> 00:13:04,680 Speaker 1: So if you're keeping track, here's how the name of 213 00:13:04,720 --> 00:13:09,200 Speaker 1: the company changed. It started as Hyperloop Technologies, then hyper 214 00:13:09,240 --> 00:13:13,800 Speaker 1: Loop one, then Virgin hyper Loop one, then Virgin hyper Loop, 215 00:13:14,240 --> 00:13:18,240 Speaker 1: then back to hyper Loop one. That's five names in 216 00:13:18,360 --> 00:13:21,080 Speaker 1: ten years, which kind of reminds me of how I 217 00:13:21,240 --> 00:13:24,880 Speaker 1: was hired in two thousand and seven, and I've had 218 00:13:25,040 --> 00:13:28,520 Speaker 1: five or six different corporate overlords while technically I was 219 00:13:28,559 --> 00:13:30,520 Speaker 1: still holding the same job, or at least I was 220 00:13:30,559 --> 00:13:34,600 Speaker 1: still on the same career. There's a ship of theseus 221 00:13:34,720 --> 00:13:38,920 Speaker 1: kind of thing going on here. Anyway, a few years ago, 222 00:13:39,000 --> 00:13:42,199 Speaker 1: the folks at Hyperloop one projected that there'd be working 223 00:13:42,320 --> 00:13:46,800 Speaker 1: hyperloops by twenty twenty or so. Obviously that didn't happen. 224 00:13:47,080 --> 00:13:49,839 Speaker 1: It didn't happen from hyper Loop one, it didn't happen 225 00:13:49,880 --> 00:13:52,920 Speaker 1: from any of the other dozen or so companies that 226 00:13:52,960 --> 00:13:56,120 Speaker 1: are trying to make the hyper loop idea work. And 227 00:13:56,240 --> 00:14:00,000 Speaker 1: since twenty twenty one, pretty much all the top brass 228 00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:03,360 Speaker 1: at hyper Loop one left the company. Like, by the 229 00:14:03,480 --> 00:14:05,960 Speaker 1: end of twenty twenty one, you didn't have anyone there 230 00:14:06,000 --> 00:14:10,680 Speaker 1: at the company who was a founder or original executive. 231 00:14:10,720 --> 00:14:14,440 Speaker 1: They had all left. The folks leading Hyperloop one by 232 00:14:14,440 --> 00:14:16,560 Speaker 1: the end of twenty twenty two were just not the 233 00:14:16,559 --> 00:14:19,480 Speaker 1: same people who founded or led the company in previous years. 234 00:14:19,880 --> 00:14:22,600 Speaker 1: It's really hard for any company to hold itself together 235 00:14:22,960 --> 00:14:27,000 Speaker 1: with that kind of massive shift in leadership. And keep 236 00:14:27,040 --> 00:14:29,080 Speaker 1: in mind, this was a startup that still was just 237 00:14:29,280 --> 00:14:34,160 Speaker 1: closing in on being a decade old. Ultimately, hyper Loop 238 00:14:34,200 --> 00:14:36,400 Speaker 1: one was not able to hold it together. The company 239 00:14:36,480 --> 00:14:39,480 Speaker 1: is now shutting down and its intellectual property will go 240 00:14:39,560 --> 00:14:42,280 Speaker 1: to its largest investor, which is a company out of 241 00:14:42,320 --> 00:14:48,239 Speaker 1: Dubai called DP World. The hyperloop company that was arguably 242 00:14:48,280 --> 00:14:51,600 Speaker 1: both the most famous and the most likely to achieve 243 00:14:51,680 --> 00:14:55,880 Speaker 1: Musk's vision has now called it quits. There are still 244 00:14:55,920 --> 00:14:59,680 Speaker 1: other hyper loop related companies out there that are still 245 00:14:59,680 --> 00:15:03,120 Speaker 1: working on these challenges. A couple of them have actually 246 00:15:03,320 --> 00:15:07,000 Speaker 1: drifted away from really anything resembling a hyper loop and 247 00:15:07,040 --> 00:15:11,680 Speaker 1: gone with more conventional forms of transportation, things like maglev 248 00:15:11,720 --> 00:15:14,720 Speaker 1: trains that aren't traveling in any sort of tunnel or 249 00:15:14,760 --> 00:15:18,560 Speaker 1: tube or anything like that. And you could make a 250 00:15:18,720 --> 00:15:21,720 Speaker 1: decent argument to say that it's too early to call 251 00:15:22,040 --> 00:15:25,840 Speaker 1: hyperloop well and truly dead, but it sure as heck 252 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:30,440 Speaker 1: isn't doing great. Even Elon Musk has moved on. The 253 00:15:30,480 --> 00:15:33,320 Speaker 1: boring company is in the process of creating a network 254 00:15:33,320 --> 00:15:37,040 Speaker 1: of tunnels under Las Vegas, Nevada. But rather than using 255 00:15:37,200 --> 00:15:41,920 Speaker 1: pods to risk folks around, or even sleds that would 256 00:15:42,000 --> 00:15:44,840 Speaker 1: risk people who are sitting in their cars parked on 257 00:15:44,880 --> 00:15:47,840 Speaker 1: those sleds around, because that was an alternative, they said, well, 258 00:15:47,840 --> 00:15:50,200 Speaker 1: maybe we don't need to build the pods. Maybe we 259 00:15:50,360 --> 00:15:54,040 Speaker 1: just build sleds that can levitate above the surface of 260 00:15:54,080 --> 00:15:56,960 Speaker 1: the tube and people just sit in their cars, they'll 261 00:15:57,000 --> 00:15:59,840 Speaker 1: park on a little sled and get taken to wherever 262 00:15:59,840 --> 00:16:02,440 Speaker 1: they need to be, and that'll cut their transportation time. 263 00:16:02,880 --> 00:16:07,040 Speaker 1: That's not happening either. Instead, the tunnels that Musk is 264 00:16:07,120 --> 00:16:10,200 Speaker 1: digging under Las Vegas, it's really just a network of 265 00:16:10,320 --> 00:16:13,840 Speaker 1: underground roads and Tesla vehicles are just going to drive 266 00:16:13,880 --> 00:16:18,640 Speaker 1: around on those. This is not reinventing transportation. It's just 267 00:16:18,680 --> 00:16:22,480 Speaker 1: building more roads. And it definitely isn't mass transit because 268 00:16:22,480 --> 00:16:24,640 Speaker 1: the Tesla can only hold a few folks at a time. 269 00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:27,480 Speaker 1: A lot of people have argued that the Las Vegas 270 00:16:27,520 --> 00:16:30,320 Speaker 1: project is just a huge waste of time and resources, 271 00:16:30,720 --> 00:16:35,480 Speaker 1: that it's not actually addressing challenges in transportation. It's just gonna, 272 00:16:36,160 --> 00:16:39,880 Speaker 1: you know, make things worse because you're just adding more congestion. 273 00:16:39,960 --> 00:16:42,760 Speaker 1: It's just as happening under the city as opposed to 274 00:16:42,760 --> 00:16:45,120 Speaker 1: on city streets. But it's not going to make any 275 00:16:45,120 --> 00:16:48,960 Speaker 1: meaningful difference in the day to day experience that people 276 00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:52,040 Speaker 1: have while they're traveling through Las Vegas. And I think 277 00:16:52,040 --> 00:16:56,560 Speaker 1: there's some valid criticisms there because this really isn't anything 278 00:16:56,760 --> 00:17:01,040 Speaker 1: like the original vision that was pitched back in twenty thirteen. 279 00:17:01,680 --> 00:17:03,880 Speaker 1: So it seems like Musk himself has given up on 280 00:17:03,960 --> 00:17:07,399 Speaker 1: the dream. A lot of people have said that the 281 00:17:07,600 --> 00:17:11,640 Speaker 1: engineering challenges are far too great for us to meet 282 00:17:11,720 --> 00:17:16,399 Speaker 1: in a way that is financially practical, and that any 283 00:17:16,920 --> 00:17:20,040 Speaker 1: real effort to build one of these things, even if 284 00:17:20,080 --> 00:17:24,600 Speaker 1: it worked as designed, would be so prohibitively expensive that 285 00:17:24,680 --> 00:17:28,760 Speaker 1: doesn't make sense. Others have argued that it's inherently unsafe. 286 00:17:29,040 --> 00:17:33,040 Speaker 1: That if you have this enclosed tube structure and anything 287 00:17:33,119 --> 00:17:35,600 Speaker 1: happens to the tube. Let's say that there's some seismic 288 00:17:35,640 --> 00:17:40,800 Speaker 1: activity that shifts elevation along part of the route, what 289 00:17:41,040 --> 00:17:44,359 Speaker 1: happens to pods traveling at eight hundred miles per hour 290 00:17:44,800 --> 00:17:47,919 Speaker 1: down those tubes. That is a pretty scary thing to 291 00:17:47,920 --> 00:17:50,800 Speaker 1: think about. So a lot of folks have said that 292 00:17:50,880 --> 00:17:54,800 Speaker 1: this idea was never really doable, at least not in 293 00:17:54,840 --> 00:17:57,719 Speaker 1: the original concept, and that once you start to whittle 294 00:17:57,800 --> 00:18:00,200 Speaker 1: things away so that you can make it more practical, well, 295 00:18:01,080 --> 00:18:03,239 Speaker 1: the question remains, well, why are you doing this at all? 296 00:18:03,320 --> 00:18:06,880 Speaker 1: Why not just build a regular maglev train, something that 297 00:18:06,920 --> 00:18:09,920 Speaker 1: exists in lots of places around the world, And it's 298 00:18:09,960 --> 00:18:11,959 Speaker 1: hard to come up with an answer to that that 299 00:18:12,440 --> 00:18:16,160 Speaker 1: doesn't seem hokey. Anyway, I thought it was worth exploring 300 00:18:16,200 --> 00:18:18,879 Speaker 1: this story of this particular company just a bit. I 301 00:18:18,920 --> 00:18:21,840 Speaker 1: didn't have Hyperloop one biting the dust on my twenty 302 00:18:21,920 --> 00:18:24,840 Speaker 1: twenty three Bingo card. But then again, to be honest, 303 00:18:25,160 --> 00:18:27,280 Speaker 1: the reason for that is I haven't really thought about 304 00:18:27,320 --> 00:18:30,880 Speaker 1: the company in more than a year, so maybe that's 305 00:18:31,160 --> 00:18:35,119 Speaker 1: a good indicator as to why it called it quits 306 00:18:35,160 --> 00:18:39,679 Speaker 1: this year. Anyway, I thought that merited an episode of 307 00:18:39,720 --> 00:18:43,440 Speaker 1: its own. I hope you are all well, and I'll 308 00:18:43,440 --> 00:18:53,120 Speaker 1: talk to you again really soon. Tech Stuff is an 309 00:18:53,119 --> 00:18:58,240 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio production. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio 310 00:18:58,359 --> 00:19:01,919 Speaker 1: app Apple Podcasts, wherever you listen to your favorite shows.