A team of 30 students of IIT Madras is making both the institution and the country proud by being the only team from Asia to make it to the finals of the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition 2019 to develop a high-speed train that travels in a near-vacuum tube.

Avishkar Hyperloop team, which developed the first ever self-propelled, fully autonomous Hyperloop Pod, is one of the top 21 out of 1,600 teams globally to make it to the finals which will take place in Los Angeles next month. The Pod was unveiled on Friday at IIT Madras.

How the Hyperloop works

Hyperloop was conceptualised as the “fifth mode” of transportation. The reduced air resistance allows the capsule inside the tube to reach speeds of more than 1,000 kmph. SpaceX organises Hyperloop Pod competition every year to accelerate development of functional prototypes and boost student innovation. Select teams build a sub-scale prototype transport vehicle to demonstrate technical feasibility and aspects of the Hyperloop concept.

The students of Technical University of Munich holds the speed record for a Hyperloop prototype with around 500 kmph. “We want to break their record,” Suyash Singh, Student Team Head, Avishkar Hyperloop, told BusinessLine.

The winner is decided based on the top speed achieved by the Pod in the one-mile-long vaccum tube installed at SpaceX headquarters in Los Angeles. Also, the design has to go through tests based on its feasibility, manufacturing possibility and safety, Singh said.

“The idea to work on the Hyperloop was a dream inspired by Elon Musk. At the IIT Madras Centre for Innovation, I put forward the idea of working on an indigenous design and build the first ever self-propelled, fully autonomous Hyperloop Pod,” said Singh, a second year M Tech student of Aerospace.

From October 2017, a multi-disciplinary team consisting of B Tech, M Tech and MS students was formed to work on the project, he said.

In the competition at Los Angeeles, the final round (testing and evaluation of the actual propotype) will be held on July 31. The fastest Pod wins the competition.

Avishkar Hyperloop managed to rope in companies such as Tube Investments of India, Hexaware Technologies and SMC as sponsors for the project.