700 Join Race To Build Elon Musk's Hyperloop Travel Pods
HAWTHORNE (CBS SF) - A lot of would-be entrepreneurs want to put their work in front of SpaceX founder Elon Musk. More than 700 people have signed up for a competition to build the key piece of Musk's high-speed transit system known as Hyperloop.
Hyperloop would use vacuum tubes to transport freight and passengers at speeds up to 750 mph, meaning it would theoretically shuttle people between Los Angeles and San Francisco in only 30 minutes. Earlier this month Musk's Space X tweeted out the announcement of a "Hyperloop Pod Competition," soliciting inventors to step forward and help design the high-speed train alternative.
Announcing the @SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition http://t.co/ZQHjHtkuAj https://t.co/AtCkkRnjHt
— Hyperloop (@Hyperloop) June 15, 2015
"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 on June 15th. "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."
Musk, the Tesla-founder, floated the Hyperloop idea in 2013 as a method of travel that would hypothetically enable passengers to travel in suspended pods. Since then, several companies have popped up, looking to pursue the idea.
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.
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
Now more than 700 students and other inventors have signed up as part of the new competition, and SpaceX is still looking for more entries.
Over 700 entries to the pod competition have been received. Learn more and sign-up → http://t.co/ZQHjHtkuAj https://t.co/AtCkkRnjHt
— Hyperloop (@Hyperloop) June 22, 2015
Those interested in producing the pod are asked to send SpaceX their information online.
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.