A sneak peek at Canada’s Hyperloop system

You may have heard of Elon Musk’s Hyperloop Pod Competition sponsored by SpaceX where a number of student and non-student teams from around the world participate and compete to design and build a subscale prototype transport vehicle to demonstrate technical feasibility of various aspects of the Hyperloop concept.

If we had to describe to someone what a Hyperloop is, we’d defer them to Wikipedia’s definition; a sealed tube or system of tubes through which a pod may travel free of air resistance or friction conveying people or objects at high speed while being very efficient.

Its no surprise here that Mr. Musk has his sights on the future of transportation and is looking for a breakthrough in developing and commercializing Robert Goddard‘s Hyperloop concept for the next level in human transit.

Enter University of Waterloo in Canada, where Team Waterloop, comprised of like minded students, together, share the vision of changing the future of transportation. Check out their YouTube video below to get a peek on what they are doing as they inch closer and closer to influencing the future of transportation!


Waterloo Hyperloop – Capstone 90sC 2016

Waterloop’s team includes first years to masters students, ranging across all faculties. The team has grown from a small group of students to a 70+ member organization working towards making Hyperloop idea a reality, striving to connect Toronto to Montreal in just 30 minutes.

Below is a road map of Team Waterloop’s amazing progression since its inception:

  • Summer 2015 – the Waterloop team was founded at the University of Waterloo
  • Winter 2016 – one of 31 teams to the Hyperloop design weekend from over 1200 entrants
  • Fall 2016 – first team to achieve pneumatic levitation also launched a successful Kickstarter and raised over $43k
  • Winter 2017 – one of 27 teams invited to Competition I at SpaceX
  • Summer 2017 – one of 21 teams invited to Competition II at SpaceX

Having withstood the test of time, Technical Director Clive Chan, Integration Lead Jimmy Zhou and the rest of the Waterloop team are back in 2019 with a whole new roster, preparing to take on the SpaceX Hyperloop challenge. We here at Tunnel Insider want to wish them the best of luck!

For more information about the Team Waterloop, check out their links below!

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