Hyperloop Transportation Technologies is a company formed to design and eventually build the fanciful transportation system envisioned by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk HTT/Jumpstartfund

Elon Musk's tubular Hyperloop transportation system is more than just a pipe dream; in fact, says Dirk Ahlborn, CEO of the company running the project, ground will be broken on the first test track in 2016. What's more, he adds, there's a possibility that it "might be free to the passenger".

Even though Hyperloop's pricing consultants estimate a ride will cost twice the price of a plane ticket, Ahlborn is keen to avoid this situation. "We want to make it something you use every single day many times," he says. He is even debating whether "ticketing is best way of monetising, or are there other ways to make money?". "I really, strongly believe that if we create a hyperloop network and it's free -- in the off-peak times at least, in peak times we would charge a little bit -- but we make money in other ways, that will really change how people live."


There are already some options for this; for a start, the system works on 100 percent renewable energy, and actually will make more energy than it needs. As such, says Ahlborn, "we will actually be able to sell the energy". He's also looking for ideas for alternative ways in which the Hyperloop might be able to make money.

To ensure the Hyperloop is the best it can be, the company has thrown its arms wide open and is happily embracing input from partner companies, from professionals and from the wider world. "We allow people to join our team -- most of the team is working in return for stock option -- and we ask people, the general public for their ideas," says Ahlborn.

Read next Monday briefing: Europe's first hyperloop test track is under construction Monday briefing: Europe's first hyperloop test track is under construction

In order to see this embed, you must give consent to Social Media cookies. Open my cookie preferences.

This crowdsourcing approach Hyperloop is using -- the company calls it "crowdstorming" is unique, in that for the most part, public transport and rail systems have historically been developed entirely behind closed doors, and then presented to the world as a finished, working product. In total, the project has 10,000+ community members who are pitching ideas and writing essays, and more than 350 big companies from 21 nations. "All these people are coming together through one thing: passion."


And yet, until now Hyperloop can claim not a single dollar of investment, and not for lack of interest. In fact 400+ accredited investors have pledges to putting money behind the project. The reason that the company has yet to take them up on it, says Ahlborn is that "for us we didn't really know what we needed -- we have everything we needed." The company had support from companies and universities around the world, and $9 million of man hours. "We didn't really need anything from them -- we said come back later when we know we can do this."

That's likely given that the build of "a full-scale passenger version" is due to start next year in Quay Valley, California. Ahlborn is hoping it will help the company solve what he sees as some of the most important logistical problems.

For example, he believes that it's no good "if you only build a transport system that gets you to point a to point 'B' very fast but it takes you an hour and a half to get the station". "We think about the first and last mile a lot," he says, with one of the solutions being ridesharing services to pick you up and bring you to the station. "It's super important to figure these things out, not only to get from one point to another -- that's when you use it every day."

Another issue is trying to customise loading. "The boarding thing is very important," says Ahlborn. The aim of Hyperloop is that there will be a capsule every 30 seconds, suggesting changeovers as fast as an F1 pit stop.


The speed of the capsules themselves will also be unprecedented in terms of mass ground transportation, but Ahlborn says that for passengers it will feel like they are in a car rather than on a rollercoaster -- "1G is our limit". "When you go to america in an aeroplane right now you are already travelling at 1,000km per hour, but you don't know that," he points out.

Hyperloop's future in California seems clear, at least on a small scale, but what about abroad? "Europe of course is on the list," says Ahlborn, but due to "legislative burdens" it's not necessarily top of the list. "I personally see the first ones in the Middle East and Asia because they're a little bit more aggressive."

So exactly how involved is Elon Musk exactly in the Hyperloop project? He was the brains behind the vision, but it's clearly Ahlborn who is seeing it out. "Entrepreneurs need to tackle big problems rather than trying to build the next small app," he says of Musk. "He made it very clear that he is busy with Space X and Tesla. They are supporting the community by building a small-scale test track."