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With the revolutionary way the information is exchanged around the world and incredible progress in the field of computing, it seems that we have achieved the pinnacle of technology advancement. Only in 1992, the first text message was sent from a mobile phone and now, roughly 20 years later, our smartphones can even substitute computers. Not to mention the buzz around trendy topics like Internet of Things or robotics. Yet in many areas things do not change so fast, with transportation industry serving as an excellent example. The roads are still lined with cars and skies are scattered with planes. And what happened with the vision of flying cars and teleporters?

In 2013 Elon Musk, a CEO of SpaceX and space travel enthusiast, introduced a concept of the Hyperloop. It may not be as exciting as teleporters, but it is believed to completely revolutionize mass transit. Hyperloop is a transport system in which levitating tubes powered by magnetism and electricity would move at a high speed through a pneumatic tube. Initially, Musk developed a plan to connect San Francisco to Los Angeles with a one-way trip taking about 35 minutes (compared to a six-hour travel by car at the same distance), meaning that Hyperloop could potentially achieve a speed of 1200 km/h (!).

Hyperloop is the answer to conventional modes of transport that tend to be either expensive, slow or environmentally unfriendly. While road transport increases the carbon emissions, rail travel, although energy efficient, is usually relatively slow and expensive. Furthermore, at shorter distances planes do not seem as the most effective option since it takes them more time to depart and land rather than actually fly. Hyperloop is meant to be a cost-effective, high-speed system used on moderate distances. The transporting tubes would have solar panels installed on the roof, making it completely self-powered system. Finally, Musk’s original design estimated that the costs would not exceed six billion dollars. What’s more, a single journey on the abovementioned distance from San Francisco to Los Angeles would cost as much as $20.

SpaceX however, does not intend to build Hyperloop. Instead, it has launched a competition to encourage students and engineers to develop prototype pods. In the first design stage held in January 2016, there were 30 teams selected that are now given a chance to build their own functional Hyperloop models. Among the winners, there are teams mostly from the U.S., such as from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but there are also numerous European teams, including the one from Delft University of Technology. The next phase is planned to be in January 2017, where contestants will test their prototypes on SpaceX’s one-mile track.

There are many enthusiasts of Hyperloop project that envision this transportation system in their own countries. Dubai is already partnering with Abu Dhabi and Doha and discussing possibilities of building a Hyperloop network that would link the cities. Another proposed network would connect Helsinki with Stockholm.

But each great invention comes with numerous drawbacks, with many claims that technical challenges might not let Hyperloop project to get off the ground. The biggest concern relates to its costs: Musk estimated that the total costs on the originally planned route from LA to San Francisco would not exceed six billion dollars (it’s a distance of about 600 km). However, KPMG estimated that the cost of connecting Stockholm to Helsinki (about 480 km) would be at least $21 billion, where the figure includes everything from the tube to allowances for risk and overhead. In fact, only costs of land acquisition for rail projects are usually tremendous and exceeding billions of dollars. Another issue is related to the fact whether it is a mean of transport for people as it’s still unclear if traveling a thousand kilometers per hour in a tube is humanly bearable.

For now, the Hyperloop project seems to be just ideas and prototypes. But who knows, maybe soon we will witness evolutionary changes in mass transportation system?

 

Sources:
http://www.theverge.com/2016/7/15/12200070/spacex-hyperloop-competition-date-announced-elon-musk

As Hyperloop progress glides forward, here’s what you need to know

http://phys.org/news/2016-10-futuristic-dubai-hyperloop-transit-tubes.html
Hyperloop That Links Helsinki to Stockholm Would Cost $21 Billion
https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2016/aug/14/hyperloop-elon-musk-futuristic-technology-transport

 

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By 2025 10% of the world’s GDP will be stored on blockchains or related technologies, according to World Economic Forum. EY claims, that currently blockchain is one of the nine technology-enabled trends (next to e.g. Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things or Robotic Process Automation) that will drive business and innovation. But what’s the buzz about it? And why there is still lack of understanding and recognition about it’s potential?

Some name it as the “internet of value”, the alternative way of how Internet can be used. We are used to sharing all information through a decentralized online platform (the internet), that anyone can access and modify. However, when it comes to value transfer, like money, we are forced to rely on centralized financial bodies such as banks. Even online payment methods require integration with a bank account or a credit card. The idea behind blockchain technology is that it eliminates this intermediary role since it acts as transaction recorder, identity verifier and contracts establisher at the same time.

How does it work? A blockchain allows anyone to send value or information to any place they want to through connected distribution channels. It works as distributed, decentralized ledger that records every transaction. It is a database and a network of devices, where no single machine contains all the knowledge needed to extract information and value from a transaction. Therefore, it solves the biggest security hurdle related to any transfer of sensitive information. A cybercriminal finds it easy to hack into one device, but what if there are millions of devices, each storing only small piece of information related to a transaction?

It may represent an extreme threat for financial industry, but in fact institutions such as HSBC or Bank of America are incorporating ways to use blockchain technology to simplify their processes. A distributed ledger mechanism allows to view data in a real-time, thus accelerating transaction flow and reducing costs.

Apart from financial applications, blockchain encounters numerous other opportunities. The evolving era of the internet of things (IoT) delivers us more and more devices connected to the internet and provides unified communication between them. But why not go a step further and make these devices collaborate with each other in order to act on our behalf? The new term that describes this collaboration is called the internet of everything (IoE). The IoE is a universal connectivity of people, devices, data and processes. Self-driving truck that delivers goods can now communicate with a closest charging station and recharge itself automatically. But in order for this to happen, there has to be an underlying process of authentication, authorization of energy transfer and transaction recording. Blockchain technology can combine all these elements by providing a mean of algorithmic validation.

Nevertheless, the concept of blockchain technology still faces some technical and regulatory issues, for instance related to taxation of international payments that operate on numerous machines in various countries or lack of any legal frameworks. Other accusations relate to its not revolutionary character and increased automation that may lead to some jobs and services becoming obsolete.

For sure there is a potential that this technology enabler can offer, even though its position at the moment is still insecure. The hype associated with blockchain shouldn’t be underestimated as the impact it might have on the market has the potential to disrupt the way businesses operate.

 

Sources:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2016/05/27/how-blockchain-technology-could-change-the-world/#4ef58fc249e0

https://betterworkingworld.ey.com/better-questions/blockchain-opportunity-or-threat

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-asia-trade-blockchain-idUSKCN10L17D

http://www.recode.net/sponsored/12929410/beyond-iot-how-blockchain-will-help-create-the-collaboration-of-things