The Original Hyperloop, For Rocks

This about says it all:

"They called my bluff when they got a contract for the ore car demo. None of the Magplane people had much experience building actual hardware. My specialty is doing the work that turns cool concepts, like a fusion reactor or an ore transport, into a working system.

So I took the job, hired 6 engineers, and spent 1996 to 2000 working on the ore car demo. I designed the motors to survive in a harsh mining environment. The car was as simple as possible. Since ore isn’t in a hurry, the design optimized at 40 MPH rather than 700 MPH. We didn’t need the expense or complexity of magnetic levitation, and found some very rugged wheels made for mining applications. They worked great."

So it's like a very high speed evacuated maglev... except... not at all.

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The Hyperloop uses two stock features understood to be promising for most of a century now:

A) An evacuated tube (NOT a pneumatic tube)

B Linear induction motors (NOT air pressure)

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It modifies these with three innovative design decisions:

1) A soft vacuum, with considerable air resistance, but within the capabilities of high-efficiency vacuum pumps rather than deep into diminishing returns

2) Several hovercraft skids inside the tube for levitation instead of maglev or wheels, powered by onboard batteries, and a very weak electric thruster/compressor with a high bypass to sustain speeds, reduce drag, and maintain the air cushion

3) A large inner tube diameter relative to the vehicle, with sufficient airspace that neither the craft itself, nor even the mild transonic shockwaves, induce a gas piston effect.

If none of those three design features are there, it has zero to do with Hyperloop. If it uses air pressure, wheels, or magnetic levitation, it has nothing to do with hyperloop.

Stop title baiting, Techcrunch.

From the article: "a Hyperloop-like maglev system" "the potential of maglev-style systems".

The Hyperloop is not a maglev system (it uses air bearings), and the demo ore transport system they're talking about is also not a maglev system (it uses actual wheels, although the implication is that it might have used maglev tech in production).

Note to techcrunch: Maglev is not a word that means "cool" or "in a tube".