Billionaire inventor keeps high-speed hyperloop dream alive

Billionaire inventor and entrepreneur Elon Musk appears to have lost patience waiting for others to make the dream of his fast-paced hyperloop concept a reality. A crowdsource effort has an estimated 100 engineers around North America actively exploring the concept of a magnetic hyperloop that would allow passengers inside pods to shuttle between San Francisco and Los Angeles at 1,220 kph, meaning trips could be made in less than an hour. Now, the founder of the Tesla electric car company and SpaceX private rocket venture has announced he will build an eight-kilometre test track for the revolutionary vacuum tube transit system.

People could compete, say, who could make the pod go the fastest, and maybe compete on other dimensions. I think that could be pretty fun.

Elon Musk said at a Texas Transportation Forum in Austin this week

Musk originally put forth his plans for the tube transport system back in 2013 when he revealed an open 56-page technical document that outlined the blueprints for an aluminum pod capable of transporting travellers through low pressure tubes at supersonic speeds. Musk himself has described the system as a cross between an air hockey table, a railgun and the Concorde supersonic jet. The system would be kept afloat by magnets and powered solar panels on the roof. But many have said that it’s at least a decade away from being ready to roll out to the public. One of the main design challenges so far is to figure out how to protect passengers from turns with high G forces can. For now straight routes are being looked at for first designs.

Technology Hyperloop