“The train of the future": Confindustria Giovani awards start-up Ales Tech for Hyperloop suspensions

Italy climbs aboard Hyperloop, to design the "train of the future" which, with its "pods" instead of traditional coaches and wagons running on tracks, will reach 1,000 km/h and will cover the distance between Milan and Rome in less than 30 minutes. The dream of contributing to the project launched by Elon Musk, founder and CEO of innovative companies like SpaceX and Tesla goes through a start-up, Ales Tech, the Italian innovative company based in Pisa, the only Italian company selected for the business venture and to provide, at this preliminary stage, the suspensions which can ensure passenger comfort and reduce vibrations due to high speed.

Waiting for the testing phase of “SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition” scheduled for late summer in the United States, Ales Tech has now received the award from “Giovani di Confindustria” at GiStartUpContest held in Santa Margherita Ligure (Genova). 

Start-up Ales Tech was founded by Hyperloop Team Pisa, a group of engineering students from the University of Pisa and Sant'Anna School for Advanced Studies who were selected (the only team in Italy and among the few in Europe) to participate in the "SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition", a global competition for university students launched by Elon Musk, to design and build a "Hyperloop pod", a sort of passenger capsule, with the most advanced design and technology, fundamental component of Hyperloop. The transport system will consist of a low pressure steel tube with capsules called “pods” that are transported at both low and high speeds throughout the length of the tube, traveling at nearly the speed of sound, an eco-friendly system, safe and comfortable. 

The Italian approach to the design of what Elon Musk unveiled as the fifth mode of transport - after cars, planes, trains and boats - was characterized by a high degree of innovation. Instead of focusing on the design of the entire vehicle, engineers turned their attention to the suspension system of the "pod" and to vibration control in connection with high speed travel.

Hyperloop Team Pisa designed an innovative, smart suspension system, now patented, able to find the slightest trace of imperfection of the propelling pods suspensions, an idea to solve the problems and achieve quickly the Hyperloop prototype, so to offer maximum comfort for passengers and to ensure the "pods" stability, even when they reach very high speeds.

To learn more about Ales Tech and Hyperloop project, click here to view Sant’Anna Magazine.