Another team attending the competition is the Hyp-ED team from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.
“We are super excited with the competition and being in California. We watched a (SpaceX rocket) Falcon 9 launch today with SpaceX employees and we were around 1km from the actual control room of the launch,” Adam Anyszewski, president of the team, told CNBC on Thursday.
“We have a workshop here where we work and have access to machinery, tools and materials (Urban Workshop in Costa Mesa). Overall, the preparations, however stressful and energy draining are going well and we feel proud of our progress and performance so far.”
Anyszewski also discussed the outlook for a hyperloop system to be developed in the U.K. He says a hyperloop would enable the country to “future-proof” infrastructure and create a competitive economy. However, he warns it will be a long process requiring large amounts of investment and public spending.
“I’m happy to say that the U.K. public should see some progress on country’s Hyperloop in the next couple of years and hopefully the first full scale systems running in a few. One thing to realise is that the first hyperloops might be optimised for cargo, not passengers, to ensure the system can be reliably operated.”