Virgin Hyperloop One is sharing its vision for a seamless travel experience and, in partnership with HERE Technologies, will conduct the first-ever hyperloop passenger application demo at CES 2018.
As part of the demo, the two companies will showcase an application designed for real-time, on demand travel, throughout the transportation ecosystem. Virgin Hyperloop One will also unveil its first-generation pod.
“We’re giving the public a taste of what a Virgin Hyperloop One experience will be like by publicly unveiling our pod and demonstrating how passengers will experience booking a hyperloop trip from their pocket,” said Rob Lloyd, CEO, Virgin Hyperloop One. “Every hardware and software milestone brings us closer to commercialising hyperloop.”
The app allows passengers to plan, book, and pay for a hyperloop journey and other modes of transportation including public, private, and ride-shares using the application. The application is the latest to be released using HERE Technologies’ Mobile Software Development Kit for Business which enables detailed location, mapping, and navigation capabilities for 136 countries, public transit information for more than 1,300 cities, and 3D indoor and venue maps.
“Hyperloop is not just about A to B, it’s an end-to-end passenger experience — that means no waiting at any point along the journey,” said Matt Jones, Virgin Hyperloop One’s SVP Software Engineering. “HERE shares our vision for optimising travel. We will redefine the passenger experience by offering real time, on demand travel connecting hyperloop, other modes, and even indoor walking directions.”
The application will feature end-to-end route navigation including, for the first time, turn-by-turn indoor walking directions to help passengers negotiate large transit centers, venues, shopping centers, and airports. Passengers can customise their travel preferences by choosing route example options such as the fastest, cheapest, and greenest. The application will be made available to the public in 2018.
“This collaboration demonstrates the future of transportation and mobility,” said Edzard Overbeek, CEO of HERE Technologies, “Supported by our open location platform, Virgin Hyperloop One is showing how its groundbreaking mode of transportation will be seamlessly integrated into an end-to-end, multimodal travel experience that will redefine all notions of personal mobility.”
