SpaceX Is Building Hyperloop Test Track, Wants You To Create The Vehicle
HAWTHORNE (CBS SF) - SpaceX founder Elon Musk apparently wants to see through his idea for a futuristic high-speed transit system that could shuttle people between Los Angeles and San Francisco in only 30 minutes.
Space X tweeted out the announcement of a "Hyperloop Pod Competition" Monday, soliciting inventors to step forward and help design the high-speed train alternative. The "Hyperloop" idea was floated in 2013 as a method of travel that would hypothetically enable passengers to travel in suspended pods through low-pressure tubes at more than 750 miles per hour. Since then, several companies have popped up, looking to pursue the idea.
"Neither SpaceX nor Elon Musk is affiliated with any Hyperloop companies. While we are not developing a commercial Hyperloop ourselves, we are interested in helping to accelerate development of a functional Hyperloop prototype," SpaceX said in an announcement Monday. "SpaceX is announcing an open competition, geared towards university students and independent engineering teams, to design and build the best Hyperloop pod. To support this competition, SpaceX will construct a one-mile test track adjacent to our Hawthorne, California headquarters. Teams will be able to test their human-scale pods during a competition weekend at the track, currently targeted for June 2016. The knowledge gained here will continue to be open-sourced."
Those interested in producing the pod are asked to send SpaceX their information online.
The brainchild of Elon Musk, who also developed Tesla Motors, Hyperloop would use vacuum tubes to transport freight and passengers at speeds up to 750 mph. Musk has stepped aside from the project and seems to be willing to let other entrepreneurs take this on. He even sent out a clarification after the announcement that SpaceX itself was not planning to build Hyperloop.
One of the companies trying to build Musk's vision - Hyperloop Technologies - is co-chaired by venture capitalist and Uber underwriter Shervin Pishevar and former PayPal COO David O. Sacks. Earlier this year reports surfaced that Hyperloop Technologies was working to raise $80 million for a five-mile test track.
