After making overtures to Russia, the American West, and several countries in Eastern Europe, designers of hyperloops—electrically propelled, magnetically levitating pods that promise fast intercity transportation—are now setting their sights on Germany.
Since the country that invented the autobahn already has one of the world's densest and most advanced transportation networks, US-based Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT) plans to take a more incremental approach there than proposing a full-on hyperloop. So it will work with Deutsche Bahn, the country's state-owned railway, to build a new conventional train using some hyperloop concepts.
Deutsche Bahn will provide the financing for the so-called "Innovation Train," which will use HTT's technology to improve passenger comfort. As is typical of HTT and its chief competitor, Hyperloop One, technical details about the project are scarce, but the promises are big. (Hyperloop One is also collaborating with Deutsche Bahn, it announced earlier this year).
The only concrete feature mentioned in HTT's announcement of its Deutsche Bahn partnership this week was an augmented reality window, which the company says will give train passengers a more "enjoyable" ride. Mockups of the window show what appears to be a hybrid information and entertainment display, with which passengers can interact as they would a touch screen.
While the Innovation Train is mostly focused on improving the passenger experience, HTT hinted that the engine could also contain some hyperloop technology.
"We see this partnership as a validation of the technology we're developing and as proof that the nature of our business model is working," said HTT Chairman Bibop Gresta. "Our company structure lends itself to more collaborative partnerships that are attractive to forward-thinking organizations like Deutsche Bahn."
Proving that its technology is commercially viable as well as attracting publicity have been key parts of the strategies of HTT and Hyperloop One this year. In May, Hyperloop One offered a five-second demonstration of its propulsion technology to journalists. Last month, HTT said its hyperloop capsules would be made out of a new synthetic material it called Vibranium, in an apparent nod to the shield that Marvel's Captain America carries.