The Hyperloop Could Be a Reality by 2018

Building a hyperloop transportation system is not an easy process and requires the engineers to create a near-vacuum situation in tubes that run for miles.

“This will be the world’s first passenger-ready Hyperloop system”, continued Ahlborn. There is still much to work out with Hyperloop technology, no matter if it’s of the pressurized air or magnet variety-and doing so can take years, even decades.

Musk first proposed the Hyperloop-which uses capsules suspended in tubes to transport passengers at high speeds-back in 2013, but left its development to others. Hyperloop Transportation Technologies says its track will be ready by 2018. Hyperloop Technologies and rival Hyperloop Transportation Technologies are both vying to build the world’s first Hyperloops by 2020 with one building a test track in Las Vegas and one hoping to have a mini five-mile Hyperloop up and running in California by 2020.

But, while most of us weren’t paying attention, a handful of private companies have been quietly working to make Musk’s vision a reality. “Everyone traveling on California’s [Interstate] 5 in 2016 will be able to see our activities from the freeway”. The track will be located at Quay Valley, California.

HTT uses a crowdsourcing business model, in which it hires over 10,000 people with full-time jobs at companies such as NASA and SpaceX to work on the Hyperloop project in their spare time.

Unlike the other two enterprises where he’s still actively involved, Elon Musk only came with the idea for this third one, allowing a different company to take over and see that it’s put into practice. To that end, SpaceX launched an open competition previous year that challenged college students and independent engineering teams to design and build the best Hyperloop pod.

Which company will win the race? Musk has suggested that a SF to LA hyperloop would cost $6 billion, or $11.5 million per mile.

The idea of a hyperloop was introduced in 2013by Elon Musk, the billionaire investor who is bubbling with innovative suggestions.

The fully-realized vision of supersonic transport between cities is likely still a long way off, but mounting interest in the technology proves it’s way more than a daydream.