The work on the future of transportation based on legendary innovator Elon Musk’s theories has already begun. Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (or HTT) is one such company which plans to transport people from one city to another using capsule trains in a jiffy. After an agreement to test its trains between Slovakia and Czech Republic, the company is now courting Toulouse, France to set up its tech facilities.
The said announcement was made by HTT at a press conference held in Toulouse earlier today. The company plans to build a 3,000 square meter facility (approx 37,674 sq. ft.) development and testing facility. This massive space will be accompanied with an ‘outdoor terrain’ that will be used for various experimental purposes. The facility will primarily be used to develop most hyperloop products and technologies.
The development facility in the city of Toulouse will be located at Francazal Airport, a former military base which isn’t used anymore. The government is currently converting it into an ”innovation park.” This will act as proving grounds for various forms of mobility innovation. Much like every other avenue, the said facilities have been provided to HTT free of cost. The company will soon begin developing hyperloop prototypes and testing it out on the outdoor terrain at the airport.
HTT chairman Bibop Gresta has described Toulouse as the ‘heart of Europe’s aerospace industry.’ There is no hiding the fact that Toulouse is the prominent location for courting aerospace engineers. Even Airbus is headquartered and constricts some of its planes in the city. Chief executive Dick Ahlborn has also jumped in to support the notion of the massive number of aerospace engineers in the region. He has also added,
Our new centre in Toulouse will help us continue to develop and manufacture important aerospace technology which will further improve the system. The talent pool in the region allows us to hire some of the brightest minds in aerospace.
HTT rival Hyperloop One, who is also working on Elon Musk’s ideology, has recently been fairly active on the scene. Whereas HTT has been on the low down but is now playing catch up with the former in terms of opportunities. It has already announced that it plans to connect 80 miles between Brno in the Czech Republic to Bratislava and then 140 miles south to the Czech capital Prague.
There have also been negotiations with Abu Dhabi, Australia. India has also been a rumored location in the mix. Hyperloop is already said to have approached the government authorities to build a track between Bengaluru and Chennai. This distance is expected to be completed in a mere 30 minutes and the ticket will cost a little higher than a bus ticket — which is fair enough.
