Swissloop, the ETH Zurich student initiative, has won European Hyperloop Week 2026 in Veendam, the Netherlands. The team took Overall First Place as well as awards for Best Integrated Hyperloop, Best Propulsion, Best Levitation & Guidance, Best Engineering Design and Best Technical Research. Competing against 20 teams from 11 countries, Swissloop achieved the strongest result in its ten-year history with a pod designed, built and tested at the ETH Hangar at Switzerland Innovation Park Zurich in Dübendorf.
The competition result recognises the Lia Wälti pod as a complete engineering system rather than a single component. Swissloop demonstrated its levitation and propulsion technologies in operation, combining its HEMS levitation system with LSM–LSRM propulsion and control systems. The prototype also establishes a technical basis for wireless pod coupling—an important step towards operating more than one vehicle on the same track. Hyperloop concepts use capsule-like vehicles in low-pressure tubes, with levitation systems designed to minimise physical contact and resistance. The anniversary model required more than 60,000 lines of code and around 40,000 hours of development work.
The ETH Hangar gives project teams access to the large spaces and shared facilities needed to progress from digital design to physical testing. Its infrastructure includes workshops, 3D-printing and battery-testing capabilities, composite-manufacturing equipment and outdoor test areas directly in front of the hangars. For Swissloop, this environment supported the iterative development of a complex mobility prototype and the integration of mechanical, electrical and control technologies. The six-award result highlights the value of project-based learning and specialised innovation infrastructure in turning ambitious transport concepts into functioning, internationally assessed systems.
