BMW has designed a hyperloop capsule

BMW doesn’t just do cars. In 1995 it acquired a design consultancy called Designworks, a company whose work extends far beyond the world of automotive. Its latest project is this – a full-scale prototype of a ‘hyperloop’ capsule.

Shown in Dubai as part of UAE Innovation month, it was developed in partnership with Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority and Virgin Hyperloop One, the company behind plans to build a hyperloop transportation system between Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

A hyperloop is a mode of transportation that involves capsules traveling through vacuum-sealed tubes at vast speeds. VHO reckons its capsule could reach 670mph, taking 12 minutes to complete a journey that would take a couple hours by conventional train.

Designworks says its main challenge was how to go about creating a “comfortable and engaging interior with no windows, and a current requirement for passengers to be seated throughout the journey”. So first class has leather-covered seats with touchscreens that control lighting brightness and colour, seat heating/cooling and offer “personalised entertainment” like movies and TV shows. Designers also took inspiration from “traditional Arabic patterns” to anchor the design in the “cultural legacy of the kingdom while acknowledging its contemporary achievements and aspirations”.

Looking forward to being cannoned across vast distances in leather-lined tubes? We kinda are.