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Hummingbird-inspired wind turbines, and more in the week that was
It's official: New York just gave the green light to build the largest offshore wind farm in US history. The project will be located 30 miles southeast of Montauk, and it will produce enough energy to power 50,000 homes. Meanwhile, researchers have developed a revolutionary new wind turbine that trades spinning blades for flapping wings reminiscent of a hummingbird. Dubai kicked off phase three of the world's largest solar park. When it's complete it will produce a whopping 800 megawatts of clean energy. Speaking of the sort, Elon Musk is a champion of clean energy -- so imagine our surprise when Musk threw his support behind former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State. And Ireland just voted to become the world's first country to fully divest from fossil fuels.
The first Hyperloop test is now just months away
2016 was a big year for Hyperloop One as the company inched ever closer to proving its near-supersonic travel tubes work. At the same time, the business tweaked its plans, intending to become more of a platform and less of a train company. As 2017 advances, it's readying its a three-kilometer test track in North Las Vegas and pushing forward with its Global Challenge. To tell us the state of the company and what innovations we can expect, Co-founder Josh Giegel, CEO Rob Lloyd and Global Ops Chief Nick Earle joined us on the Engadget stage.
Hyperloop One settles lawsuit with former employees
As Hyperloop One continues its attempt at building the future of public transportation, it's moving on without the baggage of a messy lawsuit. The company announced today that it has reached a settlement with former employees, including co-founder and former CTO Brogan BamBrogan. No terms were disclosed, however, the lawsuit contained allegations of financial mismanagement, harassment and threats, which Hyperloop One had responded to with a $250 million suit of its own, claiming the exec had tried to lead a coup within the company.
Has Hyperloop One bitten off more than it can chew?
"I don't want to be remembered as the guy that put a train in a tube" is the quote du jour from Hyperloop One's Josh Giegel. Giegel and co-founder Shervin Pishevar have been showing off a revised vision for how the future of public transportation will operate that moves far beyond intercity travel. But does this level of futurism run the risk of alienating governments and regulators who just want a cheap alternative to high-speed rail? We sat down with the pair to ask them to justify their even more utopian vision for the future of travel.
Donald Trump's environmental plan and more in the week that was
The Hyperloop keeps getting realer by the day. This week, architects unveiled detailed plans for a next-gen transportation system that will travel from Dubai to Abu Dhabi in just 12 minutes. Meanwhile, Elon Musk announced big plans to build a second Gigafactory in Europe that will produce lithium-ion batteries and electric cars. Gogoro rolled out a faster, more powerful version of its battery-swapping electric Smartscooter, while Vespa delighted fans with plans to launch an all-electric model next year. And MIT teamed up with NASA to develop a new "morphing" airplane wing that could revolutionize aviation.
ICYMI: Screaming down a magnetic levitation tube
try{document.getElementById("aol-cms-player-1").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: Hyperloop One is a concept design to put a high-speed transit line between Dubai and Abu Dhabi, cutting the commute time from two hours to 12 minutes. If the 760MPH speed frightens you, perhaps you'd be more interested in Zero Motorcycles' new lineup, which increased range to 200 miles in one charge. If you're interested in Simple Habit the meditation app, that's here, and a news story from Canada on its immigration website crash is here. As always, please share any interesting tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
Hyperloop One shows how its first routes could work
Hyperloop One's plans for super-fast tube transportation are shaping up. The company, partnering with the city of Dubai, has introduced a concept that illustrates how an autonomous Hyperloop system would work in the United Arab Emirates alongside existing infrastructure. There would be several Portals (read: stations) strung across Dubai proper (including at the Burj Khalifa), as well as a connection between Dubai and Abu Dhabi that would drastically reduce the time it takes to travel between cities -- you'd get from one to the other in 12 minutes instead of the usual 2 hours by car.
A real-world Hyperloop preview, and more in the week that was
The Hyperloop cometh: Danish architecture firm BIG just gave the world a sneak peek at a 93-mile track designed to connect Abu Dhabi and Dubai, while the University of Waterloo is set to test the world's first levitating pneumatic system next week. Tesla is having a great month as it turned a profit for the first time in two years and unveiled its next-generation Powerwall 2.0 system. Meanwhile, Henrik Fisker gave the world a first look at his upcoming 'Tesla-killer" supercar, which is set to launch next year. And Otto delivered the world's first shipment by a self-driving truck: 51,744 cans of Budweiser beer.
Tesla's self-driving future, and more in the week that was
Tesla is making several big announcements this month, and Elon Musk just delivered the first: From now on, all new Tesla cars will be self-driving. The electric automaker also teamed up with Panasonic to build solar panels for its Powerwall home battery, which it's set to update next week. Hyperloop One is forging ahead on its futuristic transportation system by raising $50 million and hiring Uber's former CFO as an advisor. It looks like Apple has scrapped plans to build a self-driving car, and BMW showcased plans for a next-gen smart motorcycle that will never crash or tip over.
Recommended Reading: What happened at Hyperloop One?
How Hyperloop One went off the rails Sarah McBride, Bloomberg The folks at Hyperloop One are one group trying to make Elon Musk's seemingly crazy idea of a levitating pod transportation system a reality. That task hasn't been without its fair share of issues, including infighting and employee lawsuits. What the heck happened? Well, Bloomberg takes a look at the company's inner workings to provide some context for the recent headlines.
Hyperloop One could build its first commercial route in Dubai
While Hyperloop One isn't quite done building its test structure, it already has a potential location for its first ever commercial route: Dubai. The company has teamed up with DP World, one of the biggest port operators, to examine whether building a route for Port Jebel Ali would make it more efficient. To be exact, they plan to conduct a feasibility study assessing the use of high-speed Hyperloop tubes to ferry cargo from ships straight to a separate container depot. That would allow the operators to free up space at Jebel Ali for other (profitable) uses. Company CEO and ex-Cisco president Rob Lloyd told TechCrunch that the wealthy city certainly has "the infrastructure, regulatory movement and kind of capital in place needed" to make it happen.
Karma's stunning electric supercar, and more in the week that was
After years of anticipation, Karma Automotive has finally unveiled the Revero, a plug-in electric supercar powered by roof-mounted solar panels. In other transportation news, BMW launched an electrified version of its flagship sedan, and a new report shows that the UK will have more EV chargers than gas stations by the year 2020. Work continues on the Hyperloop: One company announced plans this week to build the world's first underwater supersonic transport tubes. And Republic Bike's kids cargo bike might just be the coolest ride for pint-sized commuters.
A bus suspended over the ground, and more in the week that was
So far Tesla has launched a sexy sportscar, a luxe sedan, a powerful SUV, and an affordable electric car. What's next? Think bigger. According to Elon Musk, the company is set to unveil an electric Minibus next year, and it will drive itself. Speaking of buses, China just unveiled the craziest one we've ever seen: It's suspended above the ground, and is tall enough to fly right over traffic jams. A team of students created the world's most efficient electric car, which gets an outrageous 26,135 MPGe. Gogoro launched a new electric scooter sharing service in Berlin, and the world's first Hyperloop factory opened for business.
Hyperloop One opens its first manufacturing plant
Hyperloop One has announced that it's opening its first manufacturing plant to build the future of high-speed transportation. Metalworks is a 105,000 square foot facility in the city of North Las Vegas where components for DevLoop, the first testbed for the platform, will be constructed. As well as housing the company's new propulsion lab, the location will also be used to solve some of the more practical engineering challenges the technology faces. Employees will work to design and build supporting columns, cradles and the joints that keep everything held tightly together.
SpaceX delays its Hyperloop competition until next year
Contestants in SpaceX's upcoming hyperloop pod competition now have some extra time to prepare their entries. The Elon Musk-owned company announced on Friday that the design contest will be moved back to late January, 2017. This decision comes in response to requests from multiple independent and student-led teams asking for additional time to better refine their submissions. 22 groups in all are competing in this second round, down from 115 initial applicants. The competition will be held along a one-mile test track set up in Hawthorne, CA, come January. Should the technology come to fruition, travellers may one day be able to get from Europe to China in a fraction of the time and cost of conventional high-speed rail.
Hyperloop One's BamBrogan allegedly left due to harassment
When Hyperloop One co-founder Brogan BamBrogan quit the company last week, it prompted plenty of questions. After all, the prodigious former SpaceX engineer walked away from a startup that he'd built just when things were getting exciting. Now, Buzzfeed is claiming to have seen court documents that say BamBrogan's departure was down to harassment from the company's former legal counsel. The report believes that the co-founder has filed a restraining order against Afshin Pishevar, apparently citing threats of violence and stalking. The issue is more complicated since Afshin Pishevar is the brother of Hyperloop One's other co-founder, Shervin Pishevar.
Hyperloop One 'proves' it's cheaper than high-speed rail
Since its conception, Hyperloop pioneers have been unable to answer the one question that matters: how much cheaper will it be compared to high-speed rail? Hyperloop One now feels confident enough to publish a feasibility study that makes the case that zooming across the globe in vacuum tubes is affordable. This particular examination concerns a project to connect Stockholm and Helsinki as one super-sized metro area. Suffice to say, the headline stat is this: the per-mile cost of building this loop is pegged at around $40 million per kilometer. By comparison, the World Bank estimates that California's slower, less efficient High Speed rail project will cost $56 million per km.
Hyperloop One co-founder reportedly leaves the company (update: confirmed)
Just over a month after its propulsion test in the Nevada desert, there's a major staff shakeup at Hyperloop One. Recode reports co-founder and CTO Brogan BamBrogan stepped down from his role with one of the companies that's looking to make Elon Musk's high-speed transit system a reality. BamBrogan's role is now the job of VP of engineering Josh Giegel who was promoted to co-founder and president of engineering. As the company competes with Hyperloop Transportation Technologies to be the first to develop a working system for super fast mass transit, internal tension at Hyperloop One reportedly lead to the leadership move.
Hyperloop One team dreams of connecting Europe and China
Hyperloop One has teamed up with the city of Moscow and a local company to explore bringing the Hyperloop to Russia. The trio will investigate how and where such high-speed transportation can be integrated into the country's existing transport network. Since Moscow itself has a population of 16 million people, cheap, quick and reliable mass transit is always worthy of further study. But the wider picture is that Hyperloop One views this as the first step on building a new high-speed freight link between Europe and China.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: A VW bug made out of timber
Six years ago a Beijing company proposed an insane lane-straddling bus that could soar over congested freeways. The project just took a step closer to reality, as the Transit Explore Bus is set to begin testing this summer. In other transportation news, Airbus just unveiled the world's first 3D-printed motorcycle, which has a range of 37 miles and a top speed of 50 mph. Hyperloop Transportation Technologies announced plans to build transit pods from Vibranium, which takes its name from the fictional metal used to create Captain America's indestructible shield. A Bosnian retiree handcrafted a gorgeous VW bug exterior from over 50,000 pieces of oak. Vanmoof launched the SmartBike -- a next-gen cycle that is virtually impossible to steal -- and Google partnered with Levi's to create a smart jacket for urban cyclists.
