"Sustainable high-speed transportation" with Rob Miller CMO Hyperloop TT | Interviews with Chris EP3
so welcome everyone to this future-proof container terminal episode today we got an interesting guest Rob Miller currently Chief Marketing Officer for hyperloop transportation technologies well known as hyperloop tt and i will describe why interesting it's not only due to his passion for transportation but also due to his background in neuroscience and you know especially these days as we're hearing a lot about uh hyperloop technologies it would be awesome to hear from you uh what is all this about uh how this technology will be interacting with the current infrastructure and the most important one how this technology will change our way of working so without being said rob welcome to the virtual stage chris thanks it's a pleasure to be here look forward to this conversation great drop so the plan for today is that uh i have been putting together some questions uh around this this technology and uh you feel free to share your thoughts lesson learns during this this journey and uh yeah if that is okay for you let's go for it so rob how i always like to ask this question so how would you describe terminal operations in in one word how do we describe terminal operations in one word from our perspective uh overloaded is a overloaded efficient is another good word but but uh where we're coming from we're looking at it as overloaded and rob do you see this overload is because uh infrastructure uh you know basically is the same over the years um you know due to the constant changes or can you share your thoughts you for for us we look at the we look at the growth and i mean 90 of global trade today is conducted at sea and in the past 50 years we've seen a 1400 percent increase in in ship capacity that doesn't seem to be slowing down so we're we're looking at how you know what opportunities we have to to further add efficiency and optimize and and speed to the to the terminal interesting so rob jumping into the into the main questions for today's session so you know once i sing on the hyperloop the first things that come into my mind is speed and i think that's not not only me but many of my colleagues who will probably have this same thought so could you tell a little bit more about what is all this technology about yeah so i think it might be beneficial to go back for a second to really understand what hyperloop is uh because we when you say hyperloop i think probably we have if we ask people 20 different thoughts would come across with that one word so we have this one loaded word uh hyperloop is actually a concept that you can it dates back to all the way back to the 1850s where we had two gentlemen in in new york trying to build a pneumatic tube underground system uh and london as well the first uh the first patent for a hyperloop system it goes all the way back to the the early 1900s robert goddard i think 1918 1919 um for for this kind of train in a train in a tube system so it it's not it's not a new phenomenon it's just we finally have the technology and the think the will to put it together so what is what is hyperloop we started in in 2013 after elon musk released his output paper because he saw the price tag for this high-speed rail from los angeles to san francisco and wanted to wanted to make a change thought there was a better way so hyperloop essentially is we we take a we take a capsule or you know the it looks like a lot like an airplane fuselage you put it in the tube you reduce the pressure to between 10 to 100 pascal you add a next generation magnetic levitation system uh and you get uh you get airplane speeds on the ground for with zero emissions that's completely sustainable and for passengers we've been working a long time in the passenger space you're talking about the cost of a metro ticket or a train ticket or sometimes even a bus ticket so that's the that's the promise of hyperloop the technologies as you you may ask is this is this a okay what futuristic technologies are using and the answer is not really there's not really anything that doesn't exist today so this is all existing technologies and it's really that no one has has put them together before and we finally have the the the will and the opportunity to to do that interesting the background you share rob and uh i really like how you in a few words describe this hyperloop concept and uh but i may say yeah it looks simple but it's totally a journey and uh somehow you have to figure out the formula to make it work these days but um coming back to our main question so how can humanity rob benefit from from this type of of technology especially these days that you know we are facing um these climate change challenges so can you tell a little bit more about what are the main benefit of the hyperloop i think it's it's the it's a few things i mean one we need to think about sustainability because we we took a look and we're polluting way too much in transportation we took a look when the world slowed down a little over a year ago when we stopped moving from place to place the environmental benefit the world had here in here in my town in los angeles we had the cleanest air in the u.s for a few days there were towns in the in the himalayas that saw the sorry the times in india that saw the himalayas for the first time in 30 years you know we're losing months and years of our lives to pollution caused by transportation and we have the opportunity to reboot and build sustainable transportation systems so that's that's one obviously people when when we talk about hyperloop they want to talk about speed you can travel the speed of sound you can travel airplane speeds on the ground and obviously that's a that's a major benefit but it's really it's really not only speed but it's efficiency as well so we believe we can build profitable transportation systems um which means that mass transportation is not is not subsidized by the government but and it can be built in public traffic partnerships and this combination of sustainability speed and efficiency are the real benefits of we think of the hype the pipeline system interesting drop and i really like to mention this sustainability topic but at the same time it will be profitable and i really like because it's a balance between those and well you know i am involved in the terminal design uh aspect of container terminals and uh sustainability is on top of the priorities for many uh leadership teams uh worldwide and robbie coming back to the hyperloop technology you know uh how about the current state of this technology is something that the we will see this more and more in the next five years or probably uh sooner than those five years so could you chill a little bit more what is the current state of the development for this technology right you're you're because you're asking when can i ride a hyperloop or when can i ship the container by hyperloop so the the where we are today is we've built a full-scale a full-scale prototype in toulouse france um on the passenger side we're we're moving forward with the certification center the first five to ten kilometers of of a hype loop that that you and i can ride uh on the freight side we've we launched in 2018 this project hyperport with hhla the operator out of hamburg and you know we're we're announcing next steps we've we just released the the designs we're announcing next steps at the its world congress in october but the reality is that whether it's by people or or goods this hyperloop is not a futuristic project this is happening today it's not a matter of it's not a matter of if anymore chris it's a matter of really when and the when is it's not it's not decades away this is years so uh we're we're looking at transporting people in goods by the end of the 2020s yeah you mentioned really interesting points here rob so you mentioned that the hyperloop will be dedicated not only for transportation of cargo but also transportation of passengers and i may expect you know you're facing quite many challenges on both sides but coming back into the transportation side uh you know once terminal operators invest in port equipment somehow those equipment will be within the port boundaries or we see that within the terminal boundaries but um i may say that the for the hyperloop is even more challenging because you will be interacting with the terminal equipment somehow you will be also you know interacting with public streets probably uh subways highways among many others so could you share a little bit more about what what are the drivers to invest in the hyperloop yeah i mean absolutely think that you know you look at a few a few drivers one is that um you know the congestion at the ports the ports are are generally high value real estate especially by the water a lot of them are adjacent to urban environments so you get you get a multiplier and traffic if we can bring those if we can bring that system inland there are there are numerous benefits both for the you know everyone and everyone in your world but for the the city for the state for the country as well so i mean we're talking about this something that that is is challenging it would require uh a public-private partnership in in most places but the benefits to the benefits to society it goes beyond uh you know it goes beyond um you know one company or a handful of companies this this potentially is is good for for all citizens fully agree with europe and uh you know we are both passionate about transportation and you know on a daily basis we are both solving puzzles and we love to solve puzzles but though when it comes to the terminals you know these days they are quite greenfield uh terminals worldwide most of them are brownfield and you know i am supporting customers on this echo efficiency and automation journey and there is like a no one size fit all solutions so it's like case by case and i can expect it's the same for the hyperloop so could you share your your thoughts on how the hyperloop will be interacting with this current infrastructure yeah absolutely if you hit on a really critical point um you know we're we're likely going to fail if we don't engineer to to current industry standards so you know our solution it's it's a it's a plug-and-play solution um the capsules are completely capable of accommodating the weight and dimensions of of either two 20-foot standard containers or 140 or 45-foot container or or a high cube container so it is it is plug and play into into today's technology it's really interesting rob that you got on the table this this point here that you need to be aware of what is the current standard in the industry so you will be able to to adapt and interact with this current uh port infrastructure or equipment but uh you know rob have you already identified like a chose topper you know something like if you don't address it now you will you know totally uh disrupt your your current deployment plans so i think it's it's really about investing it's really about the opportunity to invest in the future right so if you take the the port of hamburg the the port of hamburg is you know where we our partner holla there i mean it's a for me visiting there for the first time the level of automation and the level of innovation within the port system was incredible uh you know it's now been it's not been a few years since since we first first started having conversations and and you know however it kind of ended at the at the gate of the port where we where there was a 45 minute backup of of trucks waiting to waiting to be loaded all right and so automation can can help there to an extent but you're still there's still that there's so a few choke points within the system that we we really have the opportunity to innovate and address and this is an industry that you know is is uh you know really obsessed with innovation so i think that um you know we we've talked about it we talked about the you know the the trends in automation the tren and and um being able to being able to provide an opportunity to um have a new technology here that can uh you know that can provide 10x benefits is is one that is one that i a lot of people are really excited about considering i fully agree with you and this is awesome when you achieve this this sweet spot between the you know technology and people and you see how automation can can really improve decision making and and you can reach those efficiencies you are looking for but you know rob uh part of my my job is also to to support customers on the uh you know not only identifying which is the best uh handling concept or or solution but it's also about putting on the table uh you know supporting them on creating business case for each type of solution so having clear what will be the capex opex and royce you know and uh it will be interesting if you can share a little bit more about uh have you already put the numbers on the table you know when we talk about automation especially the capex is something that the we need to carefully evaluate so could you share a little bit more about what is your approach regarding the hybrid of solution yeah absolutely we you know we've done we've done and you know this is a new piece of infrastructure right so we are we are adding we're adding a piece of infrastructure to the to the current system so the economics have to work we've done a lot of work in the in the passenger case from uh detailed feasibility studies we've done feasibility studies in a few continents in the world we just we completed two years ago a multi-state feasibility study from chicago cleveland pittsburgh so we're done by a third party and the the numbers came back uh extremely promising for for hyper port we've done the internal we've done the internal work um the next step is and we'll be talking more about this in october is to is to be doing this doing feasibility studies and talking to port operators around the world about that that cost that cost benefit ratio so it's it's a critical point and i th there'll be more that we'll be announcing a bit later but um you know what from what we've seen internally uh the uh you know there's there's ben if the benefit outweighs the the cost really interesting drop and uh that you got this cost benefit and you are quite aware of it and uh i will be keeping an eye on those results you will be uh sharing based on your studies and development so really really really interesting topic here but uh you know we are almost reaching an end to this uh rob and uh i would like to to hear from you what are the next steps uh for the for the hyperloop uh tt development so we've uh you know we've released a we released a design concept video which is a simplified version of our of our hyperport system um we'll be participating at the its event the its world congress event uh in october in hamburg i'm provided that we still still have an event um there we've we've put the full the fully fully engineered or the pre-commercialization system into virtual reality and um we'll be announcing the kind of the next steps the next steps there so anyone in the industry who's planning on attending the the its world congress you can visit us at the the hhla hhla space and you'll be able to see to see this this the engineered version of this in in in virtual reality awesome and it's really cool that the you're using all the technology available to show off the capabilities of the hyperloop and yeah i hope we can meet at hamburg on october and uh you know before closing drop i got this question here and um do you believe hyperloop will be something that we will see only on developed countries or you're expecting this can be deployed worldwide yeah i think this is this is not a it's not a technology for the rich or um or for developed countries only you think you can think of the the the leapfrog benefit of of you know adding to new technologies into into developing countries as well so our interest is rain the interest we've received so far is really worldwide it's not it's not isolated to one or one or a handful of countries so i think that um the benefit of hyperloop is a it's not a it's not a it's not a you know single country or a single nation it's it's really a human the human benefits so i think we'll see we'll see it adopted around the world uh you joined this session um you know for all of us involved in the in the terminal operation uh not only on the design but also on the commercial aspect infrastructure uh civil and many other aspects involved in the in the industry is is really interesting to to be aware of all these technologies and you know how they will be changing especially our way of working so i really appreciate these and as i told you before uh hope to see you in in future episodes when the development are uh you know almost there when we can as i told you right on a hyperloop so really really appreciate your time thanks chris it was an absolute pleasure enjoyed the conversation thanks rob so hope you like this session with rob miller really interesting thoughts uh i really like how he described the hyperloop in such few words and i am aware that even though he's playing it quite in the simple way uh there is a huge complexity behind and you know somehow they need to make all this work and uh we touch interesting topic especially on how this technology will be uh interacting with with current uh port infrastructure so i think they got many challenges uh in ahead but for sure they will overcome those so let me know in the comments below what what you consider will be some of those challenges uh how you're expecting this technology will change our way of working in in the terminals and as always don't forget to like share and subscribe to our channel you
2021-10-07 23:42