The chassis serves as a skeleton, supporting loads and offering space for subsystems. It features a modular double ladder frame made from standard aluminum profiles for efficient load distribution and easy disassembly.

The aeroshell protects subsystems from debris and improves aerodynamics. This year, it's made from natural flax fiber composite since it has similar structural properties and much lower footprint than traditional carbon fiber products.

Delft Hyperloop introduced an indirect pneumatic braking system with a gas spring this year for lighter, more compact brakes with adjustable force. Emergency brakes, a key safety feature, ensure rapid stops during emergencies such as communication or power loss.

The vacuum box protects vital components and personnel inside the pod, supporting the chassis's structural function. It ensures a pressurized environment in case of failure in near-vacuum conditions. In a full scale hyperloop, it would be where the cargo and the passengers would travel.

Vertical motion (Z), pitch θ and roll φ are controlled by the vertical levitation, which is composed of four HEMS modules located on each top corner of the pod. Each HEMS module is accompanied by an offset sensor which measures the distance between the module and the track above it. With these four sensors, the three aforementioned degrees of freedom are measured. Two of the remaining degrees of freedom (lateral motion (Y) and yaw ψ), are controlled by the lateral levitation. This comprises four EMS modules; two on each side of the pod, vertically aligned with its center of mass. Once again, they are each accompanied by an offset sensor that determines the pod’s exact position and orientation.

The motor consists of a coil, a magnet and two U-cores. The U-cores are glued to the permanent magnet creating an E-module, in which the coil is placed, thus perpendicular to the magnet.

The cores are made out of laminated steel sheets, to reduce the eddy-current losses. A neodymium magnet is used for its high volumetric strength, which is required in the confined motor module.

The motor provides a zero power lift of 1450 N, at the nominal air gap of 12.5mm. At full power, the motor generates over 2 m/s² of acceleration, with a slightly higher lift force. It does this with an efficiency of over 80% at the design speed of 8 m/s.

CONTROL:
All the control hardware in the pod is custom made. Two of the most important control systems are the Main PCB (Printed Circuit Board) and the Braking PCB, for the top-level control and braking control respectively.

SENSORS AND LOCALIZATION:
Sensors monitoring the internal and external environment of the pod enable the high- and low-level control of the pod. The localization system is a custom-made optical encoder system that can determine the location of the pod along the track with an accuracy up to 1.5mm.

SOFTWARE:
Behind the hardware, a robust software infrastructure realizes the operation of the pod. Using a state-driven control system written in Rust for optimal reliability, the pod can transition between a set of possible operating states. The ground station and its interface enable for easy monitoring of the performance of the system.

The Powertrain system is the only energy source on the pod. A low voltage battery powers all electronics while 2 battery packs provide 400V for the propulsion and levitation systems. The new batteries feature wire bonding and added safety electronics. Battery management systems monitor the battery activity and can deactivate these if desired. An onboard DC/DC converter trickle charges the low voltage battery using the high voltage power. While low voltage converters provide 5V and 12V in addition to the 24V provided by the LV battery.

Furthermore, power distribution boards act as power connection hubs throughout the pod. For the first time, Delft Hyperloop also implements a custom motor drive in Helios III, powering the propulsion system more efficiently, with a smaller and water cooled motor drive. This drive utilizes a fully custom control algorithm. Using a few hard wired control mechanisms, the Powertrain systems require little software control and therefore are controlled by the Sense and Control system.