Hyperloop to impact on future travel by 2020

Co-founder and chairman of Elon Musk's Hyperloop Technologies, Shervin Pishevar, reveals that Hyperloop "will be operational, somewhere in the world, by 2020", moving cargo and people "at 700 miles per hour" thereby changing the way the global economy works, citing it as the fifth mode of transport after boats, trains, cars and planes. Although some are sceptical over the timeline, Pishevar says the firm has already raised $11m from investors and is now in the process of raising an additional $70m. 

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In just four years, you could travel in a futuristic transportation network at near supersonic speeds.

So says Shervin Pishevar, co-founder and chairman of Hyperloop Technologies, which aims to shuttle passengers and cargo in high-speed pods that are smaller than most planes and trains and designed to depart as often as every 10 seconds.

"Hyperloop will be operational, somewhere in the world, by 2020," Pishevar told CNBC. "We will move people and cargo at 700 miles per hour. That changes the way the global economy works."



Rendering of a hyperloop capsule being docked. Source: Hyperloop Technologies

Hyperloop has skeptics, of course, who say this timeline is too ambitious. Undeterred, Pishevar said, "Moonshot ideas can happen faster than any other time in history." The company has already raised $11 million from investors, and is now in the process of raising an additional $70 million. Pishevar is convinced that investors will be eager to commit capital to the start-up. He compares the company to Elon Musk's SpaceX.

"Founders Fund didn't invest [in SpaceX] until the first rocket successfully launched," Pishevar said. "People forget that. It took really courageous investors, including Elon, to put up a lot capital just to prove a rocket could get into space. The same is true for Hyperloop. There are courageous investors who believe in this and want to see it exist."

