The SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition is an incentivized prize competition sponsored by SpaceX that is being held in 2015–2016. In the competition, many student and non-student teams are participating to design—and for some, build—a subscale prototype transport vehicle to demonstrate technical feasibility of various aspects of the Hyperloop concept.
Announced in June 2015, it is organized in two moments: a first part, the Design Weekend in which the teams presented their designs for the whole vehicle (pod) or a sub-part of it; the Design Weekend took place in Austin, Texas on January 29-30, 2016; a final round in which selected teams can run their Pod prototypes on a test track built in California, set for 27-29 January 2017.
Ales Tech took part directly the Design Weekend, and continued to play a key role as technical partner by partnering with university teams in the final round, providing a small but key component: the Active Suspension System.
Ales Tech is the only Italian company that has taken part in this pioneering challenge, and one of the few players in Europe in this innovative and promising landscape.
