Arrivo Hyper loop Highway: Why It's Perfect For Denver Now

DENVER, CO -- Denver’s proposed hyper-loop inspired electromagnetic superhighway system, Arrivo, promises to zip cars, cargo and buses at 200 miles per hour through habitrail-like tubes in highway center lanes, according to promotional videos. The first leg of that proposed interconnected system will shoot down E470 from Aurora to Denver International Airport, said CEO Brogan BamBrogan. (His unusual name is a mashup of his own name and his wife's. Arrivo is Italian for "you've arrived.")

The L.A.-based company will open a headquarters in Commerce City, thanks to a partnership with the Colorado Dept. of Transportation, the two organizations announced Nov. 14. The company will start construction of a $15 million test track, at land near an unused E470 toll booth site at 95th Street.

Arrivo is bringing 200 engineering jobs to metro Denver, over the next few years, drawing praise from Gov. John Hickenlooper. CDOT and Arrivo will partner to create a $200,000 feasibility study, announced Shailen Bhatt, executive director of CDOT.

The technology for the Arrivo system has been around for awhile. For at least 20 years, maglev trains using electromagnetic power to push past 200 mph speeds have been carrying passengers in Japan and China. The maglev technology uses magnetic levitation to make trains float and reduce track friction, and electric power to move them forward.

But engineering innovations are converging in interesting ways that make the idea of Arrivo possible now, said BamBrogan, a former SpaceX engineer and co-founder of that other hyper loop company, Hyperloop One.

These technologies are based on the linear-electric motor that creates power by following a magnetic field.

But instead of pulling a train along a track, the company says autonomous pods vehicles will use sensor fusion tech control millions of data-points at once and low-cost telemetry to allow the system to communicate with itself.

“What we're doing at Arrivo is taking all these technologies that exist and really optimizing them for a mobility experience,” BamBrogan said. “At SpaceX, we didn't invent new technology, we used existing technology in new ways.”

“In Denver, and in major metropolitan areas and in 21st Century cities around the world, there’s a frustration with transportation and traffic,” said Bhatt. “People say, ‘my commute is literally killing me.’”

BamBrogan said the project is being designed to cost the same amount as an E470 toll from end to end, about $15. Bhatt said bringing the price down to a manageable amount was key to CDOT jumping into the partnership. “What’s funny is people say ‘I don't want to pay a toll,’ but you're paying with your time,” Bhatt said. "Your time is worth money, so you either pay with money, or you pay with time. I would actually argue that time is a much more valuable resource,” Bhatt said.

Bhatt is leaving CDOT in December for a new job with Intelligent Transportation Society of America, a Washington DC-based transportation advocacy group. Bhatt said he viewed the Arrivo as another stage in CDOT's mission to make Colorado's highways safer and create a better lifestyle for commuters -- in this case by drastically reducing driving time.

BamBrogan said the Arrivo system could actually reduce traffic and congestion on non-Arrivo roadways. Because the "throughput" of the proposed Arrivo system has capacity for 20,000 cars per hour per lane -- about ten times the capacity of a traditional highway system -- it will relieve congestion on existing highways, he said.

Other innovations in construction and materials will also drive prices down, BamBrogan said. Since the pods in the system are levitating and controlled by the system, there are infrastructure savings that can be achieved.

“Our infrastructure can be far lower cost than an elevated structure for the El train in Chicago, for example. The El train is 400 tons, so the structure has to support 400 tons. Overpasses for roads have to be engineered to assume that there is a bunch of 18-wheelers stuck in a traffic jam, even though there are only a few cars on there most of the time. Because we don't have traffic jams and we don't have cars piled up on there, we can make infrastructure of the system at a lower cost.”

Even though the first step is a feasibility study to connect Aurora to DIA, the real plan is a network of Arrivo tube tunnels that connect the region, BamBrogan said. “The real value is the network effect. Our vision is to serve the whole Denver region.”

Right now the company is privately funded, BamBrogan told CNBC last week. "Autonomous cars are coming, connected autonomous cars are coming, we think that's going to increase the desire for people to move on the freeways," BamBrogan said. "People are urbanizing."

CDOT also submitted a proposal to Elon Musk's company, Hyperloop One for a statewide hyper loop system that would travel at 700 mph through a vacuum, linking towns along the Front Range in 30 minutes. BamBrogan, a co-founder, was fired by Hyperloop One in 2016 and, along with several other employees, sued the company. Hyperloop One countersued, but the two firms appear to have settled the suits and made nice.

Meanwhile, BamBrogan has plunged forward with the new company, which formed in February. He said commuters driving to DIA along E470 will be able to watch the new Arrivo test track being built on the side of the road.

“We expect to start construction by Valentine’s Day, 2018,” he said.

Read more here:

Hyper loop Arrivo Test Track and Research Lab Planned Near Denver

Hyperloop Colo.: Here's How it Would Work

Promotional video showing how the proposed Arrivo electromagnetic superhighway will work:

CDOT Executive Director Shailen Bhatt shakes hands with Arrivo CEO Brogan BamBrogan Nov. 14 at E470 headquarters in Aurora . Photo by Jean Lotus, Patch.com