SpaceX is building a hyperloop, Elon Musk's fantastical, futuristic transport tube capable of moving people and freight at speeds of 760 miles per hour.
The company is building a one- to three-mile-long hyperloop test track outside its Hawthorne, California headquarters with plans to test the technology within a year, according to documents obtained by Motherboard (embedded below). It's the first time that Musk, who conceived of the hyperloop, has been involved with any concrete plans to actually build it.
"SpaceX will be constructing a sub-scale test track (inner diameter between 4 and 5 feet; length approximately 1 mile) adjacent to its Hawthorne, California headquarters)," an official SpaceX document, called "SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition," said. "In order to accelerate the development of a functional prototype and to encourage student innovation, SpaceX is moving forward with a competition to design and build a half-scale Hyperloop pod."
"In addition to hosting the competition, SpaceX will likely build a pod for demonstration purposes only," the document said.