If all goes according to plan, a student-built “hyperloop” pod will make possible a 30-minute, 750-mph trip from Miami to Orlando.
Sebastian Quesada, 26, and more than two dozen other UF students who make up the group Gatorloop, want to revolutionize transportation by building a pod that works like tubes at a bank drive-thru, the UF aerospace engineering senior said.
“Think about when you go to a bank and you put your credit card or ID or money into a tube,” he said. “It’s the same concept.”
The group of 27 was selected to attend a January competition hosted by SpaceX, a spacecraft company founded by Elon Musk. Gatorloop designed a pod that could possibly travel up to 750 mph, but they couldn’t test its speed in January. The team has raised $12,000 on GoFundMe to continue revising their design and to compete again in summer, Quesada said.
Grace Everitt, 26, the marketing and sponsorship lead for Gatorloop, believes the UF pod costs less than half of other teams’ pods.
“We have a completely, 100 percent ready pod that we’re really proud of” the UF alumna said.
