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by Rod D. Martin
January 20, 2016
The Hyperloop just took another big step toward reality.
Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT) announced plans late last year to construct a 5-mile test trackin Quay Valley, California. Techcrunch reported this week that the company is about to break ground on the initial framework for what HTT CEO Dirk Ahlborn hopes will transform the U.S. transportation infrastructure.
“After over two and a half years of research and development our team has reached another important milestone. This will be the world’s first passenger-ready Hyperloop system,” Ahlborn said in a statement. “Everyone traveling on California’s I-5 in 2016 will be able to see our activities from the freeway.”
Hyperloop promises to reduce travel time between San Francisco to Los Angeles to right at 30 minutes each way.
First proposed by Elon Musk in 2013, the Hyperloop is an advanced vacuum tube intended for just-under-Mach-One intercity transport, dramatically faster than the speediest airliners with no need to climb or descend to 30,000 feet, and with terminals in city centers like railroads of old. Musk has said that he was inspired by the extreme cost of California’s high speed rail project, which is projected to cost at least ten times as much for a fourth of the speed at best.
Quay Valley, halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, is right in the center of Musk’s original vision, which Ahlborn hopes to fulfill. The test track will be able to whiz Quay’s denizens around the length of town in just 80 seconds.
Hyperloop Test Track, Quay Valley, California
According to The Verge:
In building its test track, Hyperloop Transportation will test the soil around Quay Valley to determine the best locations for the pylons to support the tube. Once that’s finished, the company will map the terrain with drones to mark the corridor, pylon positions, and station location. The mapping is needed to calculate both the horizontal and vertical alignments required as part of the building permit.
HTT is one of two startups seeking to make Musk’s vision a reality (Musk placed his idea in the public domain). Similarly named Hyperloop Technologies, led by former Cisco President Rob Lloyd and boasting heavyweights including David Sacks, Jim Messina and Peter Diamandis announced plans last month to begin testing on an open-air track in Nevada later this month, with plans to reach 700 mph by the end of 2016.
According to TechCrunch, Ahlborn assembled a team of volunteer engineers and scientists shortly after Musk put forth the idea, offering equity in the company in lieu of cash for those willing to work on the project for at least 10 hours each week. He quickly attracted almost 500 volunteers from NASA, Boeing, SpaceX, Tesla and other prestigious outfits.
“We think of this as more than a company, it’s a movement,” Ahlborn told TechCrunch over the phone from JumpStartFund headquarters, a crowdsource funding platform he also runs out of L.A.
First Section of Hyperloop Under Construction
It’s hard to disagree. The Hyperloop could completely transform America and the world, significantly reducing air traffic between major cities, radically improving travel times for both people and freight, and redefining what it means to be a “bedroom town.” A trip from Atlanta to Miami would take just an hour, tying together the southeast as never before. Halfway in between, a city like Jacksonville — with low taxes, great infrastructure and tons of land — could be a bedroom town for both.
Indeed, Hyperloop technology could change the face of the world as much or more than cars and interstates once did. And this week, it became just a little more real.
Rod is one of our nation’s leading minds. He’s smart, original, and very committed—a combination that one rarely finds.
Rod Martin and [former Howard Dean campaign manager] Joe Trippi are America’s two foremost experts on online politics.
Rod Martin is a Reaganite-Thatcherite conservative…[and] a man who has spent much of his life ministering to and working for the benefit of others. I know Rod as an advocate for freedom, a leader who understands the real changes we need in Washington, and who has the drive and ability to make those changes happen.
Rod Martin is the kind of dynamic leader who has the knowledge, ability and experience to lead us successfully into the 21st Century. His vision for America is compelling.
Rod Martin literally wrote the book on excellence. Humble yet brilliant, a man of love and compassion, with penetrating clarity he illuminates the world around us, and we are both stirred and enlightened.
Rod Martin is a born leader and an outstanding political mind. Anyone who takes him on is going to have a serious fight on their hands.
Rod Martin is a man of uncommon vision and character. Ever since I first worked alongside Rod in the early days of PayPal, I’ve been struck by his powerful vision for the future. Rod understands the intersection of technology, politics and culture in a way that few others do.
Rod Martin wears with uncommon grace an uncanny ability to link his vigorous faith to the practical challenges of both the business world and the political arena. Yet the respect he shows for others carries a warmth and modesty that are both too rare among those who are strong advocates of feisty positions.
America badly needs more leaders who really get the future. We need more Rod Martins.
Rod Martin is a modern day philosopher-statesman. He is a capitalist intellectual, a conservative iconoclast, a gentle adversary and a kind prophet. He inspires us towards a fresh national vision built upon the original founding principles.
Rod Martin is not only effective and efficient, but he is also perceptive, wise and gracious. He gets things done. He is a great friend and a great ally.
Rod is one of the sharpest, most gracious men I know, and one of the most gifted political thinkers today. His ability to analyze issues and communicate thoughtful insights on them have earned him the respect of people across the political spectrum.
I am proud to have been Rod Martin’s friend for a quarter century, and I can tell you that he is one of the finest men and most outstanding leaders in our church and in our country today. He has a knack for turning everything he touches to success.
Rod Martin is a cornucopian entrepreneur and eutropic thinker whose influence radiates through an array of companies, institutions, movements and churches. A renaissance American, he is also a prolific friend of freedom and faith around the globe.
If Rod Martin represents the next generation of leaders, America has nothing to worry about.
A leader and a servant, in public life and in private, Rod Martin strides at the top of his profession, and has nowhere to go but up. He is in the truest sense of the word ‘outstanding’.
Rod Martin is undoubtedly one of the most accomplished thought leaders today. He is a wonderful mentor, a humble role model, and a deep inspiration for the next generation of scientific innovators and entrepreneurs.
Rod’s achievements pale beside his character and his brilliance. He sees what others can’t. He leads when others won’t.
Rod Martin is one of America’s finest young minds.
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