Elon Musk's Hyperloop transportation concept seems like a bit of a pipe dream, but it could be inching closer to reality.
Musk's company SpaceX is holding a competition in June 2016 for university students and independent engineering teams to design Hyperloop Pods. SpaceX will construct a mile-long test track at its California facility and help the competitors with development of the pods, according to information obtained by Mashable.
This competition marks the first official affiliation of Musk and one of his companies with Hyperloop.
Hyperloop is Musk's concept for an 800 mph tube transportation system that promises a trip between Los Angeles and San Francisco in under 40 minutes. Pods with seats for a few passengers would travel through the above-ground tubes, with a distance of five miles or so between the other pods.
After he announced plans for the Hyperloop concept in August 2013, Musk said it was a low priority compared with his other ventures, SpaceX and Tesla Motors (Musk is also the CEO of Tesla). While various startups have sprung up with the goal of developing the Hyperloop, none are officially affiliated with Musk .SpaceX will also make its own version of a pod as a reference for a competing team.
SpaceX/Tesla will also do a reference pod to be shown after the @Hyperloop competition. Bonus for all racing teams that exceed reference.— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 15, 2015
To be clear, SpaceX is supporting a student design competition for STEM, not trying to build Hyperloop itself. Other cos are doing latter.— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 15, 2015
SpaceX isn't looking to commercialize the technology but is looking to "accelerate development" of Hyperloop; it is keep the development from the competition open source.
Musk hinted at the possibility of such a competition in January:
Will be building a Hyperloop test track for companies and student teams to test out their pods. Most likely in Texas.— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 15, 2015
The problem with the one-mile track is theoretical speeds would be much lower than the 800 mph Musk envisions for a completed Hyperloop system. One of the startups trying to bring Hyperloop to reality, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, is building a five-mile test track in California that will only allow speeds of up to 200 mph.
In any event, it's exciting to see Musk and SpaceX getting serious about Hyperloop and contributing directly to its development. Even if Hyperloop never sees the light of day, its development will likely lead somewhere interested.
You can find more information on SpaceX's website.
Announcing the @SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition http://t.co/ZQHjHtkuAj https://t.co/AtCkkRnjHt— Hyperloop (@Hyperloop) June 15, 2015