US startup Hyperloop One disclosed a list of locations around the world vying to put near-supersonic rail transit system to the test.
The startup company keen to revolutionize the way people and cargo travel said that 35 contenders remained from a field of 2,600 teams in a Hyperloop One Grand Challenge launched in May 2015, AFP reported on Saturday.
Viable submissions had to be condoned by government agencies that would likely be involved in regulating and, ideally, funding the futuristic rail.
Projects in the running included hyperloop rail connecting Sydney and Melbourne; Shanghai and Hangzhou; Mumbai and Delhi, and London and Edinburgh.
“There has been a lot of talk about reviving the infrastructure in the United States,” Hyperloop One co-founder and engineering president Josh Giegel told AFP at Consumer Electronics Show. This follows news of 11 US cities looking to install the system.
Hyperloop One wants to get three systems underway, according to chief executive Rob Lloyd.
Persian Gulf city-state Dubai late last year agreed to a deal to evaluate construction of a hyperloop link that could slash travel times to Emirati capital Abu Dhabi to minutes.
The cash-flush city, which has hosted other hi-tech transport pilots, said it would conduct a “feasibility study” with Hyperloop One to sound out the scheme.
Hyperloop One had originally promised a full-scale demonstration by the end of 2016, after a successful test of the propulsion system.
The startup’s reasons for being at the Consumer Electronics show included collaborating with the self-driving car industry to make sure autonomous vehicles will inter-operate with the hyperloop system, loading themselves into pods to be whisked off to far-away destinations, according to Hyperloop One global field operations senior vice president Nick Earle .
Hyperloop One, which has so far raised more than $160 million, was set on an idea laid out by billionaire Elon Musk, the entrepreneur behind electric car company Tesla and private space exploration endeavor SpaceX.
Pods would rocket along rails through reduced-pressure tubes at speeds of 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) per hour.
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