Munich Re gets on board with new hyperloop transport system

FRANKFURT – 17 October 2017: Munich Re, the German reinsurance company, is working on ways to insure a new high-speed capsule transportation system, giving a boost to this new technology known as hyperloop.

The reinsurer and California-based Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT) have entered a partnership to develop the insurance which would allow HTT to manage risk.

Munich Re said on Tuesday that hyperloop technology developed by HTT was “both feasible and insurable in the medium term.”

Hyperloop aims to transport people and goods in low-pressure capsules using electromagnetic propulsion at 600 kms per hour. That would make trips between Los Angeles and San Francisco or between Munich and Berlin just 30 minutes.

“The technology developed by HTT is set to fundamentally change the way we travel in future,” Torsten Jeworrek, a Munich Re board member, said. “Such technological shifts give rise to new insurance needs that demand innovative solutions – which our Hyperloop team is happy to develop.”

Dirk Ahlborn, CEO and co-founder of HTT, said regulation of this new form of transport would be its biggest challenge. “Being able to offer an insurable system is a huge milestone for this groundbreaking technology,” he said.

Last week, hyperloop got an endorsement from the British billionaire Richard Branson, who announced an investment in Hyperloop One, which is also developing the transportation system.