Seriously, The Coolest Tech Thing In 2015

In August of 2013, he revealed plans for a Hyperloop, or a transport system that would move people from Los Angeles to San Francisco in 35 minutes (it currently takes 6 hours by car) via pressurized pods through a tub.

Elon Musk, the inventor, engineer and investor behind some of the coolest companies from the 21 century, including Paypal, Tesla and Space X, has once again decided to be the coolest tech guy on the planet.

In August of 2013, he revealed plans for a Hyperloop, or a transport system that would move people from Los Angeles to San Francisco in 35 minutes (it currently takes 6 hours by car) via pressurized pods through a tub. The tub would be kept in a vacuum (above or below ground), so as to have reduced air resistance. The Hyperloop would transport passengers in aluminum pods at around about 760 mph (no big deal). He estimated that it will cost about $6 billion dollars for the “passenger-only model” and $7.5 billion to create pods that will also transport cars. Musk said he expected the project to take about 3 to 4 years, and we never heard about it again.

Until today when he announced on Twitter that they will build a test track in Texas!

 

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

He is hoping that the track will be used as a place for “companies and student teams to test out their pods”, likely meaning his project will be open-source, just like Tesla. In fact, there is already a crowdfunded project happening in California that is attempting to design and build pods for the Hyperloop. One notable suggestable is to ventilate the tube with a mix of gases rather than simple air alone.

Also thinking of having an annual student Hyperloop pod racer competition, like Formula SAE http://t.co/HV9BLCoMb8

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 15, 2015

 Now, I can't speak for everyone, but this is definitely one of the coolest things I've heard about in these 15 short days of 2015. He hasn't yet said when it will open, but he did say at one point that if it was his main priority, he could sort in out in a year or two. So here's to hoping for 2016.