How A Success Story about the Hyperloop Changed Everything

I have always been drawn to new challenges and up to this very day, I am always on the lookout for new stories to tell. Even though I think innovation is a strong word and is used too often and mostly out of context, I do believe that technology is very exciting. But not in my wildest dreams did I think that I could start writing about this, let alone to start a tech blog. How could I, with a communications and law background, possibly be able to explain and talk about real-time simulation, hardware-in-the-loop testing or rapid control prototyping?

Spoiler-Alert: I am still learning a lot about it and there is so much I still don’t understand. But simply the possibility to learn new things and understand more is very exciting to me. I will do my best to take you on this journey with me and I am kicking this off with the very first piece I was assigned to write. The first success story I wrote about was about the Hyperloop concept which was first introduced by Elon Musk in 2013. Hyperloop is a concept that, if successful, will revolutionize transportation. This transportation system would convey passengers in pods through a vacuum tube, thereby eliminating air resistance or friction which are the key factors that slow conventional transportation down. The idea hereby is to connect cities for example Los Angeles and San Francisco, providing a new and speedy form of travelling. There are many other lines planned (which will hopefully be ready sooner than later), not only reducing travel times but also being more ecological than flying. There are actually a lot of different companies working on Hyperloop tubes and pods, such as Virgin One for example.

I was so fascinated that I asked a participant of SpaceX’s Hyperloop Challenge for an interview. How does hardware-in-the-loop come into play here? What exactly does it mean to work on such a project and how was it like competing and then to meet Elon Musk in person? I had so many questions, be sure to check out the interview (which also gives technical insides!).

Anyway, from thereon, I was hooked.

Welcome to the Unlikely Techie Blog! I will let you in on my newest stories, my thoughts and everything I pick up along the way.

The TUM Hyperloop team together with Elon Musk with their winning pod.

• Check their website out and find amazing videos about how they build their pods, the SpaceX Hyperloop competition and more!

• The Hyperloop Alpha concept I have been talking about can be found here.