Semi-Finalists Announced: Hyperloop One Global Challenge
The Cross Border Pacific Hyperloop Network team composed by Woodbury University adjunct faculty member Rene Peralta, architect Alejandro Santander, principal of Estudio Santander in Tijuana, and Woodbury University alumnus Juan Alatorre (BArch 2014) was selected as one of the 35 semi-finalists for the Hyperloop One Global Challenge among 2,600 registrants. The team proposed a Hyperloop corridor from Los Angeles across the border to Ensenada, a journey that could only take 20 minutes.
The Woodbury team will be in Washington, D.C. on April 5, 2017 presenting its proposal as part of the second round of the competition. From the team, Alatorre and professor Peralta will be on hand; the other members will be showcasing the project in Baja, California at the BC Logistical Forum 2017 on April 7.
“Congratulations to the Cross Border Pacific Hyperloop Network team on their innovative proposal being selected as semi-finalist for the Hyperloop One Global Challenge,” said Ingalill Wahlroos-Ritter, AIA, Interim Dean, Woodbury School of Architecture. “Their proposal presents a progressive vision for an infrastructure project that increases access between Southern California and Mexico with the potential of transforming our local economy. At Woodbury School of Architecture, we teach our students to engage at all levels of politics and discourse, seeking designs that address the most pressing problems of our time. Now more than ever, we need projects like this one.”
In a press release Hyperloop One announced that it had been fielding 2,600 registrants in five months after kicking off the Global Challenge in May 2016 as an open call to individuals, universities, companies and governments to develop comprehensive proposals for using Hyperloop One’s disruptive transport technology in their region to move passengers and freight point-to-point, swiftly, and on-demand.
According to Hyperloop One, the semifinalists come from 17 countries, representing every continent except Antarctica. The US has eleven teams left, India five and the U.K. four. It’s a strong field: Twenty proposals come with commitments of support from local, state and federal governments and agencies. The company expects to announce the handful of finalists by May 2017.
“The Hyperloop One Global Challenge unleashed ideas from some of the world’s most creative engineers and planners, who care as much as we do about the future of transportation,” said Rob Lloyd, CEO, Hyperloop One. “These are all solutions that can make a real and immediate social and economic impact.”