Traveling into the future at the speed of sound

"Short-distance flights killed the Transrapid," says Philipp Kunze. The failure of the once-celebrated magnetic levitation train cannot be described any better. Nonetheless, Philipp believes that a mobility concept could spell the end of short-distance flights, with some ideas originate from the Transrapid: Elon Musk's vision of the Hyperloop, in which pod-like cabin vehicles glide locally emission-free and at nearly maximum speed through a near-vacuum tube. Phillip is not only studying mechanical engineering at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) but is currently the Chief Technical Officer (CTO) at mu-zero Hyperloop e.V., a research initiative consisting of 43 students from four universities in Baden-Württemberg. They aim to turn this vision into reality and are thus advancing the foundational research on the Hyperloop concept. Their direct supporters include the Innovation Campus Future Mobility (ICM).