Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk showed commitment to his Hyperloop project at the recent Texas Transportation forum on Thursday, announcing that a test facility is being built for the air-rail system.
The facility will include a five-mile track for companies and students to test the pressurized pods that would transport people. Musk tweeted that the track will be developed "most likely 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
"Also thinking of having an annual student Hyperloop pod racer competition, like Formula SAE," he added.
The pressurized pods in the Hyperloop are designed to float on cushions of air and transport people through a tube that is kept at a partial vacuum so the pods can move within much less air resistance, TechCrunch reported.
Musk wants the track to take people on trips above ground as well as underground.
The Hyperloop is intended to take people from Los Angeles to San Francisco, and the pods are intended to travel at near supersonic speeds, The Register reported. Plans published by Musk in 2013 say that pods will also receive a great amount of power from solar panels.
The rail link is estimated to cost $68.4 billion to build. A ride from Los Angeles to San Francisco will last 35 minutes and cost $20 per person, while a 75-minute ride will cost $100 per passenger.
A crowd-funding team in California has been working on prototypes for the pods and has even suggested changes Musk could make to the design, such as ventilating the tube with different gases rather than with regular air, The Verge reported.
While Musk has dedicated most of his time to projects with Tesla and SpaceX, Thursday's announcement shows that the entrepreneur is focused on making the Hyperloop a reality. When exactly the test track will open has yet to be revealed.
