On November 9, Virgin Hyperloop made history by successfully conducting a run of a hyperloop pod at the DevLoop test facility in the United States. Pune lad Tanay Manjrekar, Virgin Hyperloop’s power electronics specialist, was one of the first few to ride the pod.
“Working on the hyperloop – let alone being one of the first to ride it – is truly a dream come true,” said Manjrekar. “It is my hope that India sees the tremendous opportunity, embrace the challenge and leapfrog the rest of the world yet again with the Pune-Mumbai hyperloop project.”
“This is the most glorious 15 seconds of my life. This is what we worked on for six years. I am really proud to represent India, Pune and Maharashtra in this endeavour. I really think hyperloop is a viable solution between Mumbai and Pune. We will do this in India,” said Manjrekar in a video message.
Manjrekar leads the technical implementation of hyperloop’s power electronics systems, used for propulsion, levitation and guidance. He completed his Bachelor’s in electronics and telecommunications from Savitribai Phule Pune University and joined Virgin Hyperloop in 2016. He developed the control-system hardware for the Virgin Hyperloop model.
Manjrekar aims at working on problems that ride on the cusp of present-day technological limitations and hopes to inspire others. “His experience in robotics and specialization in power electronics provides him with a unique blend of expertise that is extremely valuable in developing autonomous sustainable transportation systems – a hyperloop,” said Virgin Hyerloop.