Virgin Hyperloop’s New Pod Previews a Beautiful Future

When that happens, Virgin Hyperloop will be there to greet its passengers on board their pods, which could very well look like something you see in the video at the bottom of the page.

While Virgin Hyperloop is still working on its pod prototypes that will, one day, be able to travel through near-vacuum tunnels at speeds of 1,200 kph (745 mph), every once in a while the company’s designers like to imagine how that future might look like. We’re still a long distance (pun intended) from that, since the first passenger tests of the XP-2 pod, a.k.a. Pegasus, are only able to travel at 172 kph (107 mph) at the moment, but there’s absolute no harm in dreaming.

And what a beautiful dream this is.

In the future, Virgin Hyperloop imagines giant Hyperloop stations that connect cities without intermediate stops, and that are the sum of all those gorgeous simulations that used to get us daydreaming back in the days of the Star Trek series. Perhaps because they’re more inviting to natural elements that current stations, be they airports or train stations, the Hyperloop is a more relaxed, less frenzied place.

Put it differently, Virgin Hyperloop imagines a world in which even the worst morning rush hour looks like a trip into a completely zen, conflict-free, and highly efficient paradise. And that’s perhaps the most remarkable thing about this new rendering, if only for assuming humanity as a whole will, once day, pace itself or that it would stop hurrying.

But we digress. Once passengers board the pods, they will be welcomed into a less sterile, more friendly cabin. There’s actual living moss here and there, serving both to make the environment more in keeping with the all-natural theme and as a means of air filtration. The Sion by Sono, which claims to be the world’s first and only solar-powered car, also uses moss for the latter purpose.

Each pod will accommodate up to 28 passengers and will travel directly to the destination. Unlike in the case of trains, there will be no intermediate stops, so that will reduce travel time considerably. Throughout the cabins, there are other, unspecified “organic touches” and a clear focus on sustainability. “Many of our pod materials were chosen specifically for their durability and recyclability, with some made from post-consumer materials,” the company says.

The pods travel both underground and through suspended tunnels and, because of the speeds they reach, they will be windowless. Keeping passengers from feeling claustrophobic is a skylight with simulated sunlight, which opens up available space and offers an experience similar to what we might get today on a (fancy) train.

Other features highlighted in this pod redesign are wireless charging, visible and clear notifications regarding the trip (such as remaining time and arrival notifications), and generous luggage racks that would make the hyperloop a good solution both for commuters and holiday-seekers.

Most important of all, though, is the fact that Virgin Hyperloop plans to make hyperloop travel affordable. Prices will vary depending on each destination and distance covered, but they will remain comparable to driving, not to flying. In this utopic future in which we’ve all somehow learned to be calm, unrushed, and friendly at all times, even on the morning commute, we won’t even have to be rich to enjoy all this.

“It’s simple. If it’s not affordable, people won’t use it,” Jay Walder, CEO of Virgin Hyperloop, says. “Daily high-speed transport is currently not feasible for most people, but we want to change that notion. Imagine being able to commute between cities that are currently hours apart in minutes – and the endless possibilities that opens up.”

Imagine that.