Remember Elon Musk’s Hyperloop? That crazy mass transit project that puts people in tubes like the ones you used to use at drive-through banks? (Or maybe you still do. I don’t know your life.)
Anyway, Musk basically unveiled the damn thing two years ago and said, “Hey, here’s this awesome idea. Have at it. I’ve got other things on my plate.” Well, a group called Hyperloop Transportation Technologies took him at his word, and the company sent out a press release late last week heralding the fact that it’s got more than 400 people on its team and has developed partnerships with some bigwigs in the science and technology fields:
“Our team continues to grow and, along with these new alliances, is representative of the collaborative spirit of HTT and are key to our success in breaking ground in 2016,” said Dirk Ahlborn, CEO of HTT. “We receive applications from professionals and are approached by industry leading companies every day.”
“We are proud to be a part of this exciting and groundbreaking project while delivering our vacuum know-how for this concept and thus to facilitate the Hyperloop vision to become reality. Here is a chance to have the best minds in the world working together on an idea for the future. As a pioneer of vacuum technology, this is a very special obligation for us, and our staff welcomes this challenge especially,” explains Dr. Martin Fuellenbach, CEO of Oerlikon Leybold Vacuum. “We contribute in delivering our extensive expertise, as well as the necessary calculations and technology to create and maintain the partial vacuum that is needed to reach such high speeds.”
That said, the press release is a little misleading. Yes, the business alliances are legit, and yes, the company is planning to break ground on a test facility in California next year. However, that staff of 400? It’s all volunteer. In fact, if you want, you can join the team, too — so long as you’re willing to put in 10 hours of work each week on the project and don’t mind getting paid in stock options.
Bottom line: We’re still excited about the Hyperloop project, and we can’t wait to see it in action. But we’re not giving up our cars just yet. Hell, we’ll still need them to get to Ptown, anyway.