A speeding bullet may be coming to San Antonio that will be able to transport you to Austin in 15 minutes. Transonic Transportation is working on the Hyperloop, a capsule like car that will run 600 mph, and only cost $10 to ride.
The Hyperloop is still ten years away. Cars like it are being planned in multiple cities, but none exist yet anywhere in the world. Josh Manriquez is the CEO of Transonic Transportation, a San Antonio-based company.
“Usually when you’re driving down the highway you kind of notice you have wind blowing past you, and those drag forces help to slow down your vehicle, which is why you have to continue applying gas,” Manriquez says. “You know basic physics 101—an object in motion will stay in motion unless acted upon by an outside force. This uses that concept for the operations system so that you have as little holding you back as possible.”
Manriquez would like the Hyperloop, which will run on electricity, to be above ground.
“We’re not doing eminent domain,” Manriquez says. “We just believe it’s underhanded and it cheats the American farmer and American landowner out of their land for a quick buck. What we’re proposing is a royalties program that allows farmers and landowners to keep their land and receive quarterly or monthly return.”
Manriquez says this way if one year is harder than another they won’t have to worry about going without.
The project will cost nearly $1.3 billion, and Manriquez is anticipating funding to come in part from investment firms and the state and U.S. Departments of Transportation.
