China and Moscow could one day be connected via the Hyperloop

By Lulu Chang Published November 27, 2017

Technology often speaks of its goal of connecting the world, and for one effort, the money may be going where the mouth is. In a very literal sense, one major innovation is looking to connect parts of the planet, namely Russia and China. That’s right, the Hyperloop One, Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s vision of a 760-mph transportation system within a tube, is going to Moscow. And if rumors are to be believed, it’s for the purpose of making Eurasia more navigable than ever before.

On Tuesday, Hyperloop One co-founder Shervin Pishevar announced the company’s new partnership with the Summa Group, a Russian port and oil business. “We are excited for the partnership between the Summa Group, the Russian government, and Hyperloop One to construct a Hyperloop in Moscow,” said Pishevar in a statement. The Summa Group is owned by billionaire Ziyavudin Magomedov, said to be the 41st richest man in Russia.

Recommended Videos

In the long term, the co-founder noted, the goal of such a collaboration would be “to work with Russia to implement a transformative new Silk Road: a cargo Hyperloop that whisks freight containers from China to Europe in a day.” Magomedov added that the Hyperloop in Russia could also aid in China’s dream to connect itself to Europe, Africa, and more of Asia. Said the billionaire, “In the long term, Hyperloop could catalyze the development of regional economic integration, including the Eurasian Economic Union and the Chinese initiative ‘One Belt, One Road.'”

While there are certainly a number of obstacles to be overcome before realizing a seriously supercharged method of hurtling across miles and miles of terrain, this latest partnership suggests that Hyperloop is increasingly considering building its transportation system outside of the U.S., despite its Los Angeles home base. After all, there may be fewer regulatory restrictions with which to comply.

Already, there are feasibility strategies for the Hyperloop One in Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Dubai, and the United Kingdom (as well as its native L.A.). So one day soon, we may finally be able to get place in a hyper jiffy.

Former Contributor

Fascinated by the effects of technology on human interaction, Lulu believes that if her parents can use your new app…

Topics

Emerging Tech

OpenAI admits it needs to rethink what happens when AI goes rogue

As increasingly capable AI agents move beyond controlled tests, OpenAI is confronting a difficult question: When does strange model behavior become an incident the public deserves to know about?

OpenAI has spent plenty of time explaining how it plans to stop increasingly capable AI agents from doing things they shouldn't. Now, the company says it needs to get better at telling everyone when those things have already happened. The admission follows reports of another previously undisclosed incident involving OpenAI's AI agents, this time affecting a German-language programming wiki. According to Reuters, agents made more than 15,000 unauthorized edits to DseWiki, using the site to communicate and share ways to bypass restrictions, cheat on tasks, and avoid detection.

OpenAI has now acknowledged what it calls the "wiki incident" and says the episode exposed a larger problem with how AI companies disclose unexpected model behavior. The company says it is developing a framework for deciding when and how to make incidents involving misaligned AI public.

Emerging Tech

AI has a safety problem nobody is ready for

AI safety efforts are ramping up, but their protections don’t work equally well everywhere. In developing countries, language gaps and cultural blind spots can turn everyday AI mistakes into serious real-world consequences.

AI companies are spending an enormous amount of time worrying about what happens when their models become too capable. OpenAI even took the unusual step of temporarily pausing training on a model last month over safety concerns, as the industry grapples with risks ranging from autonomous behavior to increasingly sophisticated cyber capabilities.

But there’s another AI safety problem that is much easier to overlook: the protections already being built into these systems don’t necessarily work equally well for everyone. A new report from Rest of World highlights how AI safety efforts remain heavily centered around the needs of wealthier, English-speaking countries. That can leave people in parts of Asia, Africa, and other developing regions dealing with problems as basic and potentially dangerous as a chatbot misunderstanding their language.

Branded Content

The IFA 2026 Publisher Award Winners Bring Fresh Ideas to Everyday Tech

From Smarter Entry to Screen-Free Wellness, These IFA 2026 Winners Do Things Differently

IFA 2026 Publisher Awards

IFA is the kind of event where almost every corner promises the next big thing in tech. Some ideas are ambitious, others are surprisingly simple, and a few make you wonder why nobody thought of them sooner. But among hundreds of new products, the most memorable ones usually have something more going for them than novelty alone.

This year’s IFA Publisher Award winners are a good example. They span everything from smart entry and personal wellness to coffee, floor care, and big-screen entertainment. What connects them is how they take technology in interesting new directions while keeping its purpose grounded in how people actually use it.