CNET
Inside Virgin Hyperloop: Airplane speeds in a levitating pod
Virgin Hyperloop wants to revolutionize travel, with airless tubes and high-tech floating pods. Out in the Nevada desert, CNET’s Claire Reilly gets a glimpse of exactly what that future could look like. Subscribe to CNET: Like us on Facebook: Follow us on Twitter: Follow us on Instagram: Follow us on TikTok:
Matthew Valadez
September 13, 2021 at 4:35 pm
I’d so get in one of these
sporq foon
September 13, 2021 at 4:36 pm
No tax dollars for your fancy Choo-choo.
Free Market, remember?
Mark Lumsley
September 13, 2021 at 4:41 pm
“Offering airline speeds without leaving the ground”???
…
…
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[looks up the word ‘levitate’]
Harish Rajput
September 13, 2021 at 4:51 pm
What is the budget of this project
Claire Reilly
September 13, 2021 at 4:54 pm
The big question, team: Would you take a ride in the Hyperloop? (It’s a yes for me, but even though it could have TV windows, I think I’d miss looking out at the world whizzing by!)
BOUCHERY Guillaume
September 13, 2021 at 7:28 pm
What about ecology honestly ?
LokiDaFerret
September 14, 2021 at 2:50 am
The odds of this ever happening are about the same as riding a talking unicorn 🦄. It’s all fantasy. Learn physics!!
Toph Law
September 14, 2021 at 5:45 am
I’m definitely down for it considering it’ll cut travel times & make almost full use of the energy poured into the system… though safety would be a concern as any problem in a closed low oxygen system traveling at those speed would be devastating and almost surely fatal.
I can definitely see this as a more efficient way to transport goods between cities being faster than rail & using less energy, potentially making our roadways a bit safer & less congested.
Kerig Pope
September 14, 2021 at 6:39 am
This is nothing more than high-tech vaporware. 😒
Colin Southern
September 14, 2021 at 10:42 am
In a full pressure suit. Maybe.
subjectbigy
September 13, 2021 at 5:35 pm
This is some Wakanda tech
Allen Lambert
September 13, 2021 at 5:50 pm
What would happen if the passenger carriers depressurized during a trip? Suffocation of all of the passengers? How long might it take for rescuers to reach those affected?
Q Graham
September 13, 2021 at 6:31 pm
I’m 48. I will still be alive when this takes off. I’ve lived an amazing transformative life from the 70s till then compared to many generations before
ALL HANDS ON STEAM DECK
September 13, 2021 at 6:38 pm
This is cool but the STEAM DECK IS WAY MORE EPIC
BP1981
September 13, 2021 at 6:56 pm
*VAPORWARE!*
Rick Prag
September 13, 2021 at 6:57 pm
Claire, its pronounced “idea”, not “idear”. You are welcome!
Vamsi Bethapudy
September 13, 2021 at 7:39 pm
Not sure why they aren’t using these tubes for Freight movement! LA is one of the largest input ports for the US. and given that the incremental cost of placing another tube is pretty much 0 (the tube is already vaccumed out) and safety is not a major concern when you have just material instead of humans, that is a no brainer start in my view. Note that it will act as an alternative to the air freight rather than a replacement for Intramodal or truck freight movement.
Yo RAHeem
September 13, 2021 at 7:51 pm
Where’s the emergency exits?
theRogue Geisha
September 13, 2021 at 7:56 pm
I’m so in
Kris B
September 13, 2021 at 8:57 pm
Is this really feasible over long distances? How do you maintain a vacuum over thousands of miles?
glennaa11
September 13, 2021 at 9:39 pm
How much did it cost to build their quarter mile tunnel? YT is full of debunking videos. Maybe CNET should watch a few and ask some questions instead of accepting Virgin’s CGI
rasmokey4
September 13, 2021 at 9:40 pm
It’s not the the 670 mph, it’s the sudden stop!!
gymjoedude
September 13, 2021 at 9:43 pm
This will never work. Basic science. Any physicist can tell you how much of a shill this is. Good grief.
Dick Riggles
September 13, 2021 at 10:05 pm
Vaporware
Ethan Nguyen
September 13, 2021 at 10:14 pm
Japan is laughing at us
monos 02
September 14, 2021 at 12:28 am
its never going to happen
Artus
September 14, 2021 at 12:42 am
I would like to wait another 5-10 years, by which time the technology should mature , before I comment on this.
The initial trials for this tech should be in fast transport of cargo/packages delivery etc !
Artus
September 14, 2021 at 12:46 am
Yes, the advantage of this over High speed rail is – low resistance from air, and no weather delays – but earth quakes would still pose a threat.
Tow Days daylight
September 14, 2021 at 1:27 am
Doesn’t make sense
LokiDaFerret
September 14, 2021 at 2:46 am
ALL GARBAGE. Go watch thunderfoot’s review of the virgin hyperloop. And btw… portions of your video reference Elon musk’s hyperloop which is also fantasyware. It is disappointing to see a reputable company like CNET touting this garbage.
Colin Southern
September 14, 2021 at 10:21 am
At the end of the day Thunderfoot is a chemist – not an engineer. I watched his “analysis” video on StarLink and it was genuinely cringeworthy (several bad assumptions because he had no idea what he was talking about meant his calculations were off by several orders of magnitude).
My conclusion was he’s a dude intent on building his brand by publishing flawed content that sounds credible only because those he’s pitching it to have no idea either.
Projects like this – obviously – have many challenges to overcome (including how incredibly dangerous vacuums are). Personally, I have no idea how they’ll overcome them – but I’ll at least reserve judgment for now. I’m sure that the idea of reusable rockets, satellite internet, and high performance electric cars being mass produced were pie-in-the-sky-sounding in the 60’s too (I was there) – but 1/2 a century later “here we are”. I’m sure that in another 1/2 century things will be quite different again.
S_Jimenez
September 14, 2021 at 3:05 am
All fun and games until you get stuck in the middle of a trip in a section of the track with NO exits. Metal coffin.
Tom
September 14, 2021 at 3:13 am
Hope lobbyist dont try their best to block these projects.
Will Newcomb
September 14, 2021 at 3:16 am
I just don’t see it happening. Infrastructure much more expensive than standard.
Max Headroom
September 14, 2021 at 4:19 am
Will it be like the rendering shown early in the video or will you have to be strapped in like shown in the short demo of two people riding it? There must be enough gs experienced to have to strap in.
Panundrum
September 14, 2021 at 11:35 am
Well according to the video your guts would be scrambled by the g forces at those speeds and the inclines
Kshitij Patil
September 14, 2021 at 4:39 am
Pumping the air outside the tunnel, so the humans in the pods will require extra oxygen to breathe this method is expensive. Instead make the pod aerodynamic and have air in the tunnel, there’ll be reduction in speed but it’ll still be much faster than competition and it’ll be way less expensive. Due to reduction of cost for air pumping.
Colin Southern
September 14, 2021 at 9:52 am
Compressed air is ridiculously cheap. Doesn’t matter how aerodynamic it is; if the surface area of the pod was only 1/2 that of the tube (which would be very wasteful) you’d STILL need to use enough energy to double the pressure of the air you’re passing through at any given instant.
Guillermo Carrillo
September 14, 2021 at 4:42 am
very old
Micaellano Eric
September 14, 2021 at 4:48 am
What if you get a problem in the middle transporting and you can’t get out because you’re inside a vacuum chamber, how long the oxygen could last long for that many passengers inside?
AUTO MECHANIC 3D
September 14, 2021 at 6:21 am
Undoubtedly, this is a great development in transportation which has encompassed the whole world
Ecky X
September 14, 2021 at 10:46 pm
It will never get off the ground.
Luis Mendoza
September 14, 2021 at 8:35 am
Have they not noticed that this 500 meters segment cost millions…. And that a hundred miles line would bankrupt any company??
GXSergio
September 14, 2021 at 12:46 pm
To be fair, it is just a prototype for testing and they are still developing… of course it is expensive, like most of great projects prototypes are, like fusion reactors.
Sharad Majumdar
September 14, 2021 at 9:24 am
Stop pushing vaporware.
Sanamdeep singh
September 14, 2021 at 9:28 am
Lol stop paying attention to cgi. Its just a new animation released every other year
Jerico Del campo
September 14, 2021 at 10:19 am
I probably gonna buy Stock and share in Virgin.
Ecky X
September 14, 2021 at 10:53 pm
Watch your money disappear.
Niko Pondexter
September 14, 2021 at 10:43 am
This look like something that can be in Disneyland if it was a real ride
look to the stars
September 14, 2021 at 11:31 am
Richard Branson wants to be Elon Musk soooooo baddddd
TheNov _
September 14, 2021 at 12:15 pm
Very literally a pipe dream, it’s never going to realize. Basic physics kills this idea;
Thermal expansion: You need a vacuum seal over hundreds of kilometers / miles while there is constant heating an cooling causing expansion and contraction.
Economics: One of the biggest investments in a rail system (which is basically what this is) is infrastructure, now instead of laying down two rails you have to make a vacuum resistant steel tube with an exponentially greater cost.
Safety: If anything goes wrong mid journey, you have nowhere to go, cause you’re in a solid tube, i a near vacuum…
Lukas
September 14, 2021 at 4:32 pm
They never even achieved speed over 1000 km/h… if they dont manage that this project is not gonna work
Trainfan1055
September 14, 2021 at 4:36 pm
This is horribly inefficient. One NJ Transit passenger car can carry more than twice the capacity of one pod. Multiply that by 7-12 cars per train and it paints a picture of how inefficient these pods are. Imagine the energy being wasted to move one pod at a time vs. moving 12 train cars at once. Not to mention the cost of maintaining a vacuum over long distances.
Jacques junior Fatal
September 14, 2021 at 4:48 pm
4:56 because marvel said so !
Carl Klinkenborg
September 14, 2021 at 5:53 pm
Oh looky looky – more CGI. This is as far as Hyperloop will ever get. Come back in ten years and prove me wrong.
bombhills notpeople
September 14, 2021 at 6:33 pm
*V A P O R W A R E*
Jean C1954
September 14, 2021 at 8:28 pm
Pods produce heath. The tubes are close to empty. No air. How does the heath leave the tube?
Michael Smith
September 14, 2021 at 9:01 pm
Its clearly not viable in any passenger sense so whats the play here? are they getting tax payer funded kickbacks to design a technology for another purpose I’m not seeing? Japan has already solved this problem with very fast rail, I can’t believe “getting there faster” is worth all the extra danger and hassle.
Tony Pham - 1975 Creations
September 15, 2021 at 12:12 am
“Prototypes are easy, larger scale manufacturing is many orders of magnitude difficult”