Relationship Status Complicated? Hyperloop And Western Democracies

Relationship Status Complicated? Hyperloop And Western Democracies

Share to Linkedin In an interview with Business Insider from July 2018, HyperloopTT co-founder and ex-CEO Dirk Ahlborn made a remarkable statement on the prospects of the hyperloop: "Let's put it this way: Democracy isn't friendly to these kinds of things [….]. If you want to do this in the US, you have tedious right-of-way issues. In China or Russia, however, all it takes is someone powerful to decide that they want it, and it happens". Two years later, he made similarly pessimistic remarks on hyperloop's future in Europe, stating that he expected hyperloop to make its break in a place where it has the support of a technology-enthused almighty regime. Sounds disenchanting, right? But, instead of dropping our shoulders, let's rather look at this from a few different angles. What a fascinating notion it is. Going from San Francisco to LA in as little as 35 minutes -conveniently, safely, and free of emissions. This vision outlined by none other than Elon Musk is what piqued the world's interest when he published his famous whitepaper in 2013. Since then, well over 100 different teams from around the world have participated in his hyperloop competition and several companies have formed including