It’s a bird, it’s plane, or is it blockchain?! Vladimir Smerkis’ interview with HyperloopTT CEO Dirk Ahlborn (for Forbes Russia)
By: Tatiana Gerasimova
Tags: Hyperloop, Interview, Cryptocurrency, Crypto, Forbes

What are the other obstacles except technological or legal risks? What it takes for the technology to become widespread and massive?

Regulation is really the obstacle. We have to prove all the numbers that we have so far. Again, it’s not so much about the speed, but its about efficiency. Even first countries of the world don’t have the good infrastructure, because it is very expensive not only to build but also to maintain. Countries need to use their taxpayer money to pay for the subway, and for the system. So building something that makes economic sense by itself, that creates the business for itself — that is the right approach .

Is it true that in the US to buy a land for the tube is even more expensive than to build it?

You can always buy cheap or expensive land. In New York it will probably be very expensive. The real problem in America is acquisition, and the laws. For example, I need this piece of land, and this is the money I’m willing to pay for it. In America it does not work. If the land belongs to someone then its owner will not give it back. You have to fight for 2000 kilometers, which are necessary for the implementation of the infrastructure project.

Couple months ago you signed an agreement with Ukrainian government, so why Ukraine?

They have big issues with infrastructure. However, they want to build something completely new to improve the transport system as a whole, so they reached out to us and we talked to them as it is our business to give the governments the technology.

So you are going to build a line or just share the technology with them?

Our business model is that we are the technology providers, we licence our technology. We are working with the government, because we need to create the regulatory base. Now we only came to basic agreements and the development is really on early stage, Ukraine has to decide in which area the line will be built.

You have been to Saint Petersburg Economic Forum and met Mr. Putin, does it mean that Russia will also have a chance to have Hyperloop?

Of course. I think Russia is a perfect place for the technology. In general, I think that Russia is in challenging position right now. Also our connection with China will also be good for Russia.

So what about China?

We have signed an agreement with Tongren Transportation & Tourism Investment Group of the People’s Republic of China. Guizhou, and this is the area that Chinese government wants to actively develop. This is an entrance to Tibet. The first Hyperloop line they want to build exactly there. We will begin with the construction of the first 10 kilometers, which will later be connected to a longer line. This is the first hyperloop agreement with China and marks the twelfth agreement for HyperloopTT and the third commercial agreement for HyperloopTT following announcements in Abu Dhabi and Ukraine earlier in 2018. HyperloopTT will be responsible for providing technology, engineering expertise, and essential equipment. Tongren will be responsible for certification, regulatory framework, and construction of the system. HyperloopTT will work in partnership with the government of Tongren in defining the route for the system. Financing will be done through a public private partnership with 50% of the funds coming directly from Tongren.

So for now you have France, Emirates, Ukraine, and China.

We have more, but it depends on which stages. We have been working with several governments for quite some time now, doing technical and economic research. We also have Slovakia, Czech Republic, in USA it’s Cleveland and Chicago. In France we have our site in Toulouse. In Brazil we have an innovation center. In Indonesia and India technical and economic research is being carried out. In South Korea, we license our technology and give it to the local government, which announced their desire to build Hyperloop and have already created a whole consortium to implement this idea. We help them and advise them. So we try, as a whole, to give progress all over the world.

How much will it take to build 10 km stretch?

The first 5 kilometers will be built by the end of 2020. The most difficult is not even the construction, but obtaining all permits. In Toulouse we had to spend a year just to do all the paperwork.

You said that your company is one of the bright examples of a distributed team that seems to work from all over the world. How do you manage such a team and how big is it today?

When we started, I was part of non-profit incubator sponsored by NASA. We were looking for new ways of how to build business. Today, you do things online. Buy products, find yourself a boyfriend or a girlfriend. In America you can even get divorced on the Internet. But when you think about building a business it happens offline. You look for people, look for a solution to the problem, and six month later you find out year that you can not solve this problem alone. And if you find on the Internet one, two, hundreds or thousands of people that are passionate about the same idea, that help you, that give you their honest opinion, you can build a working platform, collect the opinions of these people, improve their business. When Elon Musk said that he was too busy with the SpaceX project to realize the idea of ​​Hyperloop himself, we thought that this is the perfect opportunity to try our team model. We incorporated the company and said that everybody who would like to join, please reply. We got more than 200 applications, attracted people who wanted to be a part of the project — back then, in 2013. Today we have more than 800 people all around the world. Basically they work with us for an exchange of stock options. About 50 companies work with us, some of them are the largest in their field. For example, Oerlikon Leybold Vacuum, one of the best specialists in the world for working with vacuum equipment. We do not have to reinvent things, we just work with the people that know how to do them. We have a staff right now of about 50–60 people that are managing all the others. It has huge advantages. For example, the best designer from Tokyo, or the best engineer in Moscow, it is better to work with them remotely than with mediocrities from around the corner. O a tech genius from NASA — why do we need him for 40 hours a week? We have enough hours of his time. This also saves us a lot of money, and we invest in building, not in research. And that is the biggest advantage.