Los Angeles-based company Hyperloop One, which is developing technology for a futuristic transit system, informed it had moved up an additional USD50 million as it prepares for a full-scale test of a Hyperloop system in the first quarter of 2017.
A Hyperloop involves using magnets to hover pods inside an airless tube, creating conditions in which the floating pods could shuttle people and cargo at speeds of up to 750 mph(1,200 kph).
The concept originated in a paper by Tesla Motors chief executive Elon Musk in 2013, who visualized it whisking passengers from Los Angeles to San Francisco in 30 minutes.
Hyperloop One got its most up-to-date round of funding from DP World Group of Dubai. The USD50 million takes its total funding to USD160 million.
DP World Group, whose chief executive is also conjoining Hyperloop One’s board, signed an agreement with the company in a few months back to discover a Hyperloop system to move containers from ships docked at its flagship Port of Jebel Ali to a new inland container depot in Dubai.
Los Angeles-based Hyperloop One has earlier got funding from the likes of 137 Ventures, Khosla Ventures, the French National Rail Company and GE Ventures.
Former Uber chief financial officer Brent Callinicos was also selected as a full-time adviser to Hyperloop One Chief Executive Rob Lloyd and the board.
At present, there is no functioning of Hyperloops anywhere in the world, and skeptics wonder if the technology can ever make the leap from science fiction to reality.
