Munich team’s winning Hyperloop vehicle

Technical University of Munich used eight electric motors with a combined power of 320kW to win SpaceX Hyperloop Pod competition in Los Angeles.

Taking place on an aluminium rail within SpaceX’ mile-long evacuated tube, the 76kg carbon fibre chassis vehicle accelerated at almost 2g and reached 463km/h – before coming to a controlled halt, as the competition demands, which took 154m.

This brings it to four wins out of the four Hyperloop Pod competitions for TUM.

The most recent win was in July, and the reason you are reading this now is that Panasonic has just revealed that its EX-L221 laser sensors were used to  constantly measure the position of the pod inside the tube. “The sensors are a perfect fit for this demanding challenge, since they can withstand the 10g of deceleration the pod generates when braking,” according to Panasonic.

There is a Panasonic video of the event.

There is some more information about the pod here but, be warned, it is a very irritating website if you are looking for technical detail.

Photo credit: TUM Hyperloop by NEXT Prototypes