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Elon Musk Teases Texas Hyperloop, Proposes Annual Student Pod Race

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has taken to social media to update fans on his next move for the revolutionary Hyperloop experiment. Unveiled and detailed last year, the Hyperloop is Musk’s vision for a ‘fifth’ form of transport to serve alongsi


Tesla CEO Elon Musk has taken to social media to update fans on his next move for the revolutionary Hyperloop experiment.

Unveiled and detailed last year, the Hyperloop is Musk’s vision for a ‘fifth’ form of transport to serve alongside wheeled ground-vehicles, planes, trains and boats.

Passengers using the Hyperloop could - in theory - cut the time required to travel between Los Angeles and San Francisco to just 30 minutes.

That’s around half the time a commercial airline flight would require, and the Hyperloop would be mostly solar-powered. 

But such an untried method of transportation needs to be proved and tested; and that’s apparently where the project is at.

Musk took to Twitter to inform followers that a test track is about to be built, “most likely in Texas”.

The chosen US state has now been seen as a sweetener to Texan authorities, who continue to pose road-blocks for Tesla preventing sales of its Model S EV there.

Whether the Texas site is pending the removal of most of these road-blocks or not is unclear, but Musk’s use of the words “most likely” obviously gives him a get-out clause if authorities hold firm.

Furthermore, Musk has proposed an annual challenge for university students, which would see teams develop and race ‘pods’ suitable for use in the Hyperloop.

This would likely prompt immediate development on potential pods for the radical transport system, with the added benefit being that one design might serve as the ‘real deal’ one day.

Musk compared his idea to the existing Formula SAE motorsport challenge, currently inspiring teams of university students as they battle it out around the world.

Stay tuned to TMR for more.

MORE: Tesla Working On Snake-like Robotic Wall Charger, 'For Realz'
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Tesla | Elon Musk | Technology

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