Hyperloop startup Arrivo to build a high

Hyperloop startup Arrivo's plans for super-speedy transportation have finally arrived with an ambitious new system for Denver, Colorado — but don't expect to see any of the bulky vacuum tubes that typically characterize the futuristic "fifth form of transport" in the Mile High City anytime soon.

SEE ALSO:Richard Branson is betting big on Elon Musk's Hyperloop

The company, which officially launched back in February, announced that its first project will be a public-private partnership with the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) to bring high-speed local travel to the Denver area within the next four to five years. The proposed system will use a magnetic-levitation tech to shoot pods along its track at speeds of up to 200 mph, aiming to cut down local travel times down on routes that currently take over an hour to less than ten minutes.

A mockup of Arrivo's proposed system in Denver.Credit: arrivo

For Hyperloop purists, though, Arrivo's Denver plan doesn't past muster.

No tube means no vacuum and will limit Arrivo's Denver system to a measly 200 mph. True hyperloop systems are supposed to use the lack of friction provided by a vacuum environment to fly at up to 750 mph (just below the speed of sound). Even with the magnetic levitation and pods, both of which are described in Elon Musk's 2013 Hyperloop white paper, this isn't really hyperloop anymore. In fact, the project sounds a lot like a supercharged monorail.

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Nevertheless, the company says the system will ferry four different models of vehicles along its tracks, offering options to transport cargo, passengers in self-contained autonomous pods, or sleds that carry their private vehicles, not unlike Elon Musk's plans for his Boring Company's tunnels.

Arrivo's four vehicle classes.Credit: Arrivo

Arrivo published a video of the proposed system in action, showcasing the new mode of transport as an additional express lane that could be used to dodge normal highway traffic.

The first phase of the project will see an Arrivo test site built near the E-470 public highway and invest some $10 to $15 million in the project next year. The company also plans to open a new research center in Aurora, Colorado, where it has pledged to add up to 200 local employees by 2020.

Arrivo's formal entry into the next-gen transportation space was only a matter of time after co-founder Brogan BamBrogan split from another hyperloop company, Hyperloop One (now Virgin Hyperloop One after Sir Richard Branson took a financial interest). The eccentric former SpaceX engineer brought a messy lawsuit against his former partners in July of 2016 before settling later in the year, declaring his intentions to "build rad shit with rad people, starting with our take on hyperloop," and starting Arrivo.

The company has a long way to go before it can prove that its system will actually work IRL, but the ambitious deal with the CDOT is a good sign that BamBrogan and his team are serious about their quest to end local traffic woes. While BamBrogan's former partners are perfecting their near-vacuum tubes in the Nevada desert and actually going all-in on the hyperloop design, Arrivo will be on the ground in Denver working to put its not-really hyperloop tech into service.

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