Hyperloop tube trains, killer AI, and virtual skydiving: Yes, it's the Pioneers Festival

'The rail industry is a dinosaur industry'

Ahlborn does not like Hyperloop to be thought of as an advanced train, but as a new transport technology. “The rail industry is a dinosaur industry. Nothing really has happened for the last 100 years,” he told Pioneers attendees.

You will have to pay more for your ticket, though. Ahlborn says his company’s consultants reckon it will cost twice as much as a flight over the same distance. The energy used will all be renewable, he said. “Solar-powered, kinetic energy, wind energy, we will produce more energy than we’re using.”

The next step is to build a working short-distance system, which the company will commence next year in Quay Valley in California.

Will Hyperloop come to Europe? “Europe is on the list,” said Ahlborn. “The Middle East and Asia, they are a little bit more aggressive when it comes to these kinds of innovations, but I’m sure Europe will come as well.”

Following Hyperloop was Cambridge NanoSystems, which is one of the companies manufacturing the new super-material Graphene as well as developing applications for it. Chief Scientist Catherina Paukner told attendees Graphene is 200 times stronger than steel of the same weight. It is good for conducting heat, and Graphene-based paint could replace central heating radiators. It is amazing for batteries, and could increase their capacity by 25 to 30 times over today’s lithium ion designs.

The questions from the audience were pertinent. If Graphene is so great, why had she not brought any prototypes? “I came with Ryanair and you know what it is like,” she said. Why do we not see more Graphene in use? “This is the question we ask ourselves,” she said. “The main issue is having enough Graphene. The whole world is researching Graphene, but it is not that easy to make.”

According to Paukner, another issue is the lack of investment at the level necessary to create viable products, such as a new generation of batteries. The reality then does not live up to the hype, always the problem at an event like Pioneers Festival.

Virtual Skydiving at Pioneers Festival 2015

Leaving the event, I passed a man suspended on ropes and wearing an Oculus Rift headset. This is a project from the Vienna University of Technology, where Professor Dr Horst Eidenberger is researching entertainment technology. The man was enjoying a virtual-reality sky dive, but never really left the ground.

Likewise, much of what is on show at Pioneers will never leave the ground; but it is a lot of fun all the same. ®