Profile
- Name: Gabriele Semino
- Sector: Business/Research
- Nationality: ITA/DE
- BOLD Mind since: 2023
From Hyperloop Vision to First Passenger Ride
The moment is both ordinary and historic: a capsule starts moving. No roar, no jet-like noise - more like the familiar pull of a vehicle accelerating. And yet, something happens here that for a long time was dismissed as “too futuristic”: a passenger ride in a hyperloop demonstrator under vacuum conditions. “From a passenger’s perspective it felt like any other vehicle starting up,” says Gabriele Semino. “But after all those years of work, being inside - and knowing it works - that was a big moment.”
From Europe to the world
Gabriele is Co-Founder and CEO of Neoways, a Munich-based deep-tech startup and TUM spin-off aiming to industrialize hyperloop technology “from Europe to the world,” building on the TUM Hyperloop ecosystem.
The “Airbus Principle”: Technology, Not Operations
Gabriele’s ambition is not to run routes or operate infrastructure. He wants a system that is scalable, standardizable, and viable for future operators - often framed as becoming the “Airbus of hyperloop”: Airbus builds aircraft; airlines operate them. In the same way, Neoways aims to deliver the core technology, not become the transport company.
The vision is deliberately European: an electric, high-speed mobility system that connects major cities so seamlessly that distance matters less in everyday life. “People have always been in motion,” Gabriele says. “Better systems simply expand the radius of daily life.”
Europe's First Passenger Run
© TUM Hyperloop
From University Project to Reality: A Certified Demonstrator
A key proof point sits near Munich: the TUM Hyperloop test segment. A full-scale 24-meter tube with a five-seat pod was certified for passenger transport and has already carried first passengers - among them Gabriele himself. This shifts hyperloop from “concept” to “demonstrably functional” at demonstrator scale, a crucial step for investors, authorities, and industry partners.
The Next Milestone: A Reference Track in Germany
Neoways is now targeting a multi-kilometer reference track in Germany to validate the system under more realistic conditions and prepare for scaling. This is where hyperloop becomes an infrastructure challenge: approvals, safety standards, land use, interfaces with existing transport, and financing.
You have to be impatient enough to keep the momentum, but realistic enough to set everything in terms of timelines and expectations
Gabriele Semino
Gabriele is Co-Founder and CEO of Neoways
Innovation as a Rollercoaster
Gabriele describes progress as a sequence of concrete steps - setbacks included. “There are good and bad days- it’s a rollercoaster. You have to be impatient enough to keep the momentum, but realistic enough to set everything in terms of timelines and expectations.” For large-scale infrastructure, credibility-standards, evidence, safety logic - matters as much as speed.
BOLD Community: Mobility Needs Collaboration
Gabriele is part of the BOLD Community, which connects international pioneers with Austrian innovators to drive cross-border collaboration. Hyperloop fits that model: it’s a system requiring engineering, regulation, partnerships, financing, and public acceptance - far beyond a single product.
A European Vision - with Real Tests Ahead
Neoways is pursuing a European mobility promise: faster, quieter, fully electric - and connected in a way that makes borders less relevant. Whether it becomes a network will be decided by reference tracks, certifications, cost and safety logic, and the ability to turn prototypes into robust systems. Neoways’ focus now is clear: prove it, scale it, and help Europe move differently.