ISTOBAL is backing efforts to build the train of future by renewing its sponsorship of the Hyperloop UPV team from the Polytechnic University of Valencia (Universitat Politècnica de València, UPV).

For the fourth year running, the Spanish group has renewed its sponsorship agreement and will be supporting the group of students from UPV as they participate in the 4th Hyperloop Pod Competition, which is organized by aerospace company SpaceX and will be held in Los Angeles next July. The aim of the Hyperloop Pod Competition is to develop a revolutionary, sustainable means of transport for passengers and goods based on a series of large-scale vacuum tubes that will allow us to travel at speeds of over 1,100 km/h.

By investing in young talent, innovation and research, gold sponsor ISTOBAL is demonstrating its commitment to the only Spanish team that has been competing in this event since day one. This year, the team of students from UPV will be competing with a prototype they have named Turian in honour of the river that runs through the city of Valencia, clearly determined to show their Valencian roots to the rest of the world. With this project, the team is attempting to win the competition with the fastest train to date, which will reach speeds of up to 400 km/h inside a vacuum tube on the 1.5km track that SpaceX has built outside its headquarters in California.

ISTOBAL's sponsorship is part of the group’s close collaboration with prestigious technological institutes, universities, and organizations in the scientific and technological sector. Another important partnership is the ISTOBAL Professorship, which promotes training, innovation and research at the UPV as well as fostering a two-way transfer of knowledge between the university and the company.

Hyperloop UPV, one of the best teams in the world

Once again, Hyperloop UPV is the only Spanish team taking part in the Hyperloop Pod Competition this year. It is also one of just five teams to have competed every year since the competition's inception. Only twenty teams are invited to compete in this event each summer, and each year the Spanish team has been selected from 300 projects submitted by universities from all over the world.

In 2016, the team won the Concept Design and Best Propulsion Subsystem awards at SpaceX’s Hyperloop Pod Competition Design Weekend in Texas (United States). Then in 2017, they made it to the TOP 10 best teams with their Atlantic II prototype, a fruit of their collaboration with Purdue University (United States). Last year, the team passed a total of 50 tests with their 100% Valencian prototype. They were leading the competition until a technical failure prevented them from continuing. Even so, they still managed to finish among the top 10 teams ahead of prestigious universities such as Berkeley and Michigan.