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Hyperloop One, a futuristic transportation startup heavily promoted by Elon Musk, is shutting down its airless tubes.
The company lays off employees, sells remaining assets (which include the test track and machinery), closes its offices, Bloomberg Reports. After hiring more than 200 people in 2022, the remaining workers — tasked with overseeing the asset sale — have been told their work ends on December 31. All of Hyperloop One’s intellectual property will be handed over to the largest stakeholder, Dubai-based DP World.
Billionaire estimated at 2013 proposal The capsule will be able to transport passengers from Los Angeles to San Francisco in just minutes 35 minutes and “I feel like I’m on a plane.” After its founding in 2014, the startup raised about $450 million in venture capital funds and other investments, and even built a test track near Las Vegas to develop its technology.
For a moment, things looked promising for the company that pledged to end traffic once and for all. Originally founded as Hyperloop Technologies, the company changed its name to Hyperloop One in 2016, then rebranded as Virgin Hyperloop One after Richard Branson. invested in the company and joined its board of directors. After a Exodus Among senior executives, Virgin dropped its name from Hyperloop One after choosing to focus on cargo rather than passengers.
The Boring Company, a former SpaceX subsidiary that was created as a separate company in 2018, has built a few short tunnels, including a one-mile-long prototype tube near SpaceX’s headquarters in Hawthorne, California. However, other proposed episodes were never realized. Route from East Hollywood to Dodger Stadium, with completion scheduled 2020 dateremains a distant dream, and elsewhere, there are projects planned chicago And Washington, DC It was quietly shelved.
Musk has long promoted the Hyperloop concept, and news of its closure comes on the heels of the recent revelation that 2 million Tesla vehicles have been recalled following a two-year investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The agency found that self-driving car models — including Models Y, S, 3, and Increase in wrecks and accidents.
a a report Reuters on Wednesday detailed how the electric vehicle manufacturer denied responsibility for the failure of parts it knew to be defective, frequently citing “abuse” or “misuse” of vehicles in order to deny repair claims for cars under warranty.
Musk’s highly entertaining approach to startups isn’t limited to transportation projects, either. After acquiring Twitter for $44 billion last year and promising shiny new changes to the platform along with his vision to make it a home for free speech, Musk has managed to turn the previously semi-functional site into an inferno. With Anyone but himself.
This article was updated at 9:23 PM ET to include additional information regarding Hyperloop One.
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