Elon Musk is a man of many hats, with Tesla at the forefront of the electric car revolution and SpaceX in the midst of innovating space transportation. But not all of Musk’s ideas are feasible and some are in the wishful realm rather than reality. One of them is the high-speed transportation system Hyperloop, a $6 billion concept calling for pods to shuttle people between U.S. cities.
Instead of quietly putting the idea away, Musk this week affirmed his commitment by going on Twitter – his preferred platform to make announcements – to share that he was exploring building a Hyperloop test track “for companies and student teams to test out their pods,” PC Mag reported, adding the track will likely be at an unspecified location in Texas.
In another tweet, Musk mused he was “also thinking of having an annual student Hyperloop pod racer competition, like Formula SAE.”
Originally introduced by Musk in August 2013 as an alternative to California’s maligned high-speed rail system, Hyperloop would function by transporting people in low-pressure tubes with capsules – or “pods” – with up to 28 passengers each. The pods would move at low and high speeds through the tube on air cushion provided through pressurized air and aerodynamic lift, Car Fanatics Blog reported. Hyperloop could transport people and freight from Los Angeles to San Francisco in about half-hour and the trip would cost $20 if ridership reached 7.4 million people.
Parallel to Hyperloop, Musk is also focused on artificial intelligence, recently donating $10 million to the Future of Life Institute for a global AI research program, PC Mag reported. The donation is surprising considering Musk raised concerns about AI at an MIT conference.
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