The WARR Hyperloop team's third capsule raced through the test tube on the SpaceX campus in Los Angeles at 467 kilometers per hour. The students from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) remain undefeated in the third Hyperloop Pod competition in Los Angeles and hold the speed record for the Hyperloop prototype.
SpaceX founder Elon Musk had the “Hyperloop Pod Competition” Launched in 2015, the Hyperloop is a transportation system concept in which a high-speed train would travel at nearly the speed of sound in a partially vacuumed tube. Student teams from around the world are invited to submit their concepts for the so-called pod—the cabin capsule that would transport passengers through the tube.
In the first competition, which took place in January 2017, two main prizes were awarded: One main prize for the fastest pod, which the WARR Hyperloop Team of the Technical University of Munich won, and a grand prize for the best overall concept, which went to TU Delft. In the second competition, only speed counted. Here too, the students left their competition behind: They reached 324 kilometers per hour.
Munich team doubles speed and wins
The third competition was again about speed, but only prototypes with their own propulsion were allowed. 18 teams were invited to the third competition in Los Angeles to test their capsules in the tube specially built for the competition on the SpaceX site.
Only three teams made it to the finals after the rigorous technical preliminary tests. In addition to the WARR Hyperloop team from TU Munich, these were Delft Hyperloop (TU Delft) and EPFLoop (ETH Lausanne). The team from ETH Zurich failed to qualify for the finals in the preliminary round.
At 467 kilometers per hour, the students from the Technical University of Munich (TU Munich) increased their speed by almost 50 percent compared to the second competition. Team Delft's capsule reached 142 kilometers per hour in the vacuum tube, while EPFLoop reached 85 kilometers per hour.
WARR Hyperloop team receives Innovation Award
As a trophy, the students received a 3D-printed model of the tube with a pod, signed by Elon Musk himself. The Munich team also received an Innovation Award for their design of the fast pod and for their second pod, with which they demonstrated a self-developed levitation system the day before the main competition.
TUM President Wolfgang A. Herrmann to the success of his team:
"What some—even engineers—dismiss as fantasy may become reality in the not-too-distant future. And besides, it's youthful fascination with the most difficult challenges that we must foster. Only then can we strengthen the global brand of 'German Engineering.'"
