Planning to travel from Los Angeles to Las Vegas in only 40 minutes in the future?
You might have to scratch that plan.
On Friday, Virgin Hyperloop, a Richard Branson-backed company, reportedly let 111 employees go.
The layoffs were announced during a video conference, according to the Financial Times.
The company told the Times that it’s changing direction, responding to increased customer interest in cargo services.
It’s based onElon Musk’s open-source ideafor sustainable, high-speed travel.
Before this pivot to freight, the company was hoping to have full certification for its hyperloop by 2025.
Its passenger prototype, which wasfirst testedwith real passengers in 2020, had room for two people.
The company said at the time the final pods would seat up to 28 passengers.
Futuristic passenger transportation isn’t the first industry that’s been affected by chain supply issues.
Frompickup truckstosmartphones, globalchip shortageshave slowed down supply chains across multiple industries around the world.
Virgin Hyperloop said in a news release that it’s looking to launch cargo transportation pilots by the mid-2020s.
We’ve reached out to Virgin Hyperloop for comment and will update this story when we hear back.
