How to Cut a 4-day Cargo Truck’s Journey to Just 16 hours

Virgin Hyperloop One wants to get your packages to you quick.  Real quick.

How? Richard Branson’s futuristic transport company has partnered with supply chain logistics company DP World to create a new cargo company, DP World Cargospeed.

The new company “will be built for an on-demand world” and will use hyperloop technology to deliver freight “at the speed of flight and closer to the cost of trucking,” Branson said in a blog post Monday. The hyperloop system will travel at speeds of up to 1,000 kilometers per hour (621 mph) and will “transport high-priority, time-sensitive goods including fresh food, medical supplies, electronics and more.”

Virgin Hyperloop One estimates a four-day truck journey can be cut to 16 hours. And it won’t cost a fortune to ship the goods, either — something that’s key for the technology to be adopted by retailers and others.

The only catch is no hyperloops are currently in full operation. The futuristic form of transportation aims to use electromagnetic pulses to shotgun passengers and cargo in pods through low-pressure tubes at near-supersonic speeds. Hyperloop as a concept was brought into the public consciousness in 2013 by SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk, who continues to work on the technology. Virgin Hyperloop One, for its part, expects to create a fully operational hyperloop system by 2021.

Category: General Update, News