Elon Musk’s Dream was Put to the Test Today

By Dan Bova May 11, 2016

UPDATE: The following slo-mo video was posted of the Hyperloop One’s test drive. We will update the story as results of the test are released.

Slow-mo of HyperloopOne test

A video posted by Roberto Baldwin (@strngwys) on May 11, 2016 at 11:15am PDT

In 2013,Elon Musk let the world know he had an idea: let’s transport people in tubes at 760 miles an hour. (For the non-scientists out there, that’s just shy of the speed of sound.) His theory was that a combination of vacuum tubes and magnets would create an environment of minimal air resistance and friction, allowing people-moving pods to reach such crazy speeds. If achieved, this technology could turn a six-hour journey from L.A. to San Francisco into a 30-minute commute.

Today in the desert outside of Las Vegas, startup company Hyperloop One Inc. is taking the first step toward making Musk’s idea a reality. The company will launch a pod in a full-scale section of tube, hoping for it to reach 300 mph.

Hyperloop One CEO Rob Lloyd told Gizmodo, “We’ve tested levitation technologies, we’ve tested the aerodynamics in those low-pressure environments, we’ve tested the tube … So we’ve done testing of all the systems but only can demonstrate this if we build it at full-scale.”

Check back here to see how the test goes. And if the high-speed barf bags are fully functioning.

UPDATE: The following slo-mo video was posted of the Hyperloop One’s test drive. We will update the story as results of the test are released.

Slow-mo of HyperloopOne test

A video posted by Roberto Baldwin (@strngwys) on May 11, 2016 at 11:15am PDT

In 2013,Elon Musk let the world know he had an idea: let’s transport people in tubes at 760 miles an hour. (For the non-scientists out there, that’s just shy of the speed of sound.) His theory was that a combination of vacuum tubes and magnets would create an environment of minimal air resistance and friction, allowing people-moving pods to reach such crazy speeds. If achieved, this technology could turn a six-hour journey from L.A. to San Francisco into a 30-minute commute.

Today in the desert outside of Las Vegas, startup company Hyperloop One Inc. is taking the first step toward making Musk’s idea a reality. The company will launch a pod in a full-scale section of tube, hoping for it to reach 300 mph.

Hyperloop One CEO Rob Lloyd told Gizmodo, “We’ve tested levitation technologies, we’ve tested the aerodynamics in those low-pressure environments, we’ve tested the tube … So we’ve done testing of all the systems but only can demonstrate this if we build it at full-scale.”

Check back here to see how the test goes. And if the high-speed barf bags are fully functioning.

The rest of this article is locked.

Join Entrepreneur+ today for access.

Subscribe Now

Already have an account? Sign In

Dan Bova

VP of Special Projects at Entrepreneur.com
Entrepreneur Staff
Dan Bova is the VP of Special Projects at Entrepreneur.com and host of the How Success Happens podcast. He previously worked at Jimmy Kimmel Live, Maxim, and Spy magazine. His latest books for kids include This Day in History, Car and Driver's Trivia Zone, Road & Track Crew's Big & Fast Cars, The Big Little...

Related Content