Hyperloop versus aeroplanes: what’s safer?
Coined as ‘an aeroplane inside a tube’, the rail-based system uses Elon Musk’s Hyperloop technology to take transportation to the next level
By Nyshka Chandran & Akiko Fujita
The futuristic rail system known as Hyperloop operates on the same fundamental principle as airplanes but is much safer, according to one of the major players developing the disruptive transportation.
Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT) is creating magnetic technology that will transport passengers in levitating capsules through steel tubes at a supersonic speed of 760 miles per hour. The concept sounds like a science fiction fantasy but passengers needn’t fear, explained HTT CEO Dick Ahlborn.
“Basically, our system is an aeroplane inside a tube,” he told CNBC at the InnovFest Unbound conference in Singapore.
“It works the same way, an aeroplane goes into high altitudes because it consumes less energy the higher it goes. It can go much faster with less energy and that’s the same concept inside the Hyperloop.”
In short, HTT deploys existing technologies such as maglev, puts them in a tube and takes the air out, Ahlborn summed up.
