Michael Seto Photography
Hyperloop One's Shervin Pishevar at IGNITION 2016.
One innovator among the many IGNITION speakers was entrepreneur and venture capitalist Shervin Pishevar, who has invested in companies such as Uber and Airbnb through his company Sherpa Capital.
His most recent project, Hyperloop One, imagines a new kind of
Hyperloop One is a series of autonomous pods that can pick you up and take you to a Hyperloop station.
"The pods themselves are autonomous vehicles essentially," Pishevar said. "And like a LEGO set, they fit into the transport system and go up to 700 mph."
Traveling a distance that would have taken two hours in a car would take 12 minutes in Hyperloop.
Cost will obviously be a huge question on everyone's minds. The most expensive part of the project, according to Pishevar, is steel. But innovative design could save 70% of the cost. The Hyperloop would be "cheaper than high-speed rail and three times faster," Pishevar said. Additionally, much of the cost of human transport would be subsidized by cargo transport.
In addition to saving money and time, the Hyperloop is environmentally friendly. The cargo-transport element would get rid of high-emission ships. "The top 15 cargo ships in the world pollute the world more than all the cars in the world combined," according to Pishevar.
So what does the timeline look like?
Hyperloop is beginning testing this year and plans to break ground in 2018. Hyperloop has signed deals around the world, and the Port of Jebel Ali in Dubai is set to be the location of one of the first cargo loops.
"By 2020, cargo loops should be working," Pishevar said. "By 2022, we should have people transport working."
Get Ready for Business Insider IGNITION 2017!
At Business Insider IGNITION 2016, renowned speakers such as Randall Stephenson, Jeff Bewkes, Arianna Huffington, and James Murdoch kept the audience on the edge of their seats.
Over the next few months, we'll be rolling out an all-star lineup for IGNITION 2017, and we can't wait to hear what they have to share.
IGNITION 2017 will take place November 29-30 at the Time Warner Center in New York City. We're currently offering Extra Early Bird tickets and Group Tickets that will save you $1,500, so don't miss out!
For more information about the future of Hyperloop, check out the full interview with Pishevar (the segment starts at 4:10:50):
