AZLoop Presents the Future of Transportation Technology

Come check out our half-scale Hyperloop prototype before sending it off to SpaceX for the Hyperloop Competition Weekend II, and join the discussion about the future of transport.

Experience the union of science, sustainability, technology, and transportation as you join AZLoop, a unique collaboration between Arizona State University, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Northern Arizona University, and Thunderbird School of Global Management. Witness the results of over two years of planning, building, and testing of some of the first Hyperloop prototypes ever created.

We will be bringing together educators and leaders in transportation, IoT, sustainable energy, autonomous vehicles and more, so get ready to ask questions, gain insights, and collaborate about the future of technology and transportation while we serve free food and beer!

Our panel is moderated by Zach Ferres, CEO of Coplex. Panelists include Shannon Scutari, President, Scutari & Co., LLC; Matthew Formica, Chief of Staff & Head of Strategy - IoT Group for Intel Corp.; Dr. Ram Pendyala, Professor of Transportation Systems and Associate Director of the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment; and Rodney Carlson, Development Vehicle Operator at Uber Advanced Technologies Group.

**Schedule: Light snacks and drinks will be served at 6:30 PM. The presentation will start at 7:00 PM.

**Parking: There is free parking at the Galvanize lot, but this may fill up quickly. There is also plenty of street parking available on Grant St., 5th St. (you will see WebPT on the intersection of Grant and 5th), and 4th St & Grant.

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/AZLoopHyperloop/

Website: www.azhyperloop.com

What’s AZLoop's Story? And What on Earth is the Hyperloop?

This revolutionary mode of transportation was initially proposed by Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX and Tesla. He revealed his vision for this sustainable mode of transportation back in 2013 with the release of his Hyperloop Alpha paper. In it, he described some of the technical details for a system where passengers are transported comfortably inside of levitating pods using special magnets while traveling inside of a near vacuum tube at speeds up to 760 mph using clean, renewable energy. Meaning you can get to Tucson in about 15 minutes or LA, San Diego, Las Vegas, or Albuquerque in 30 - and for less than $50 a ticket! Similar to existing high-speed rail platforms, Hyperloop pods arrive at the station every 5-6 minutes.

In 2015, SpaceX announced the first official Hyperloop competition, inspiring thousands of students from universities across the world to drive forward the development! During Competition 1, we were a small team of less than a dozen students. Despite the small size of the team, we qualified as one of the last 120 teams to make it to Design Weekend in January 2016 – beating over 1200 competitors from across the world. Unfortunately, the team was cut from Competition 1 as SpaceX had concerns regarding our abilities to accomplish such a feat in a short period of time with so few students. Still, an impressive accomplishment to have made it that far, especially given the fact that we competed against other teams who had 100 to 300 members!

Competition 1 was an excellent learning opportunity for us. While waiting for SpaceX to officially announce a second competition, we took the time afforded to rally a larger team and more resources. That announcement finally came in September of 2016. Following the mantra of ASU President Dr. Michael Crow, “We are measured not by whom we exclude, but rather by whom we include and how they succeed,” Project Leads Lynne Nethken and Josh Kosar decided to officially open up the team to students not only at ASU, but also Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Northern Arizona University, and the Thunderbird School of Global Management.

From that point forward, we officially became known as AZLoop – Arizona’s SpaceX Hyperloop Competition Team, a group of over 100 students from four different universities in the state of Arizona, from freshmen to PhD, majoring in various fields of engineering, science, mathematics, design, business, and more. With a solid design concept approved for the build phase by SpaceX, a much larger team, a 3000 square foot lab space, and plans for a ½-mile Hyperloop test track at ASU’s Polytechnic campus next year, we are ready to take our pod through to Competition Weekend II.

Why the Hyperloop?

Standard modes of transportation put limitations on trade, they consume much of our time in commutes, create carbon dioxide emissions, and are expensive to operate and maintain. The Hyperloop concept is the ultimate answer for efficient, cost-effective and sustainable transportation for people and cargo. AZLoop’s vision is to make progress toward this critical, unmet need, and lead research and development of Hyperloop technology that pushes the boundaries of current global trade limits and eases the pain points of existing modes of mass-transit.