California Land Secured for Hyperloop Test Track

Yesterday, the Verge reported that Elon Musk’s crazy awesome (or awesomely crazy) idea for a new mass transit system called Hyperloop just took another step closer to becoming real: Hyperloop Transportation Technologies owns a five-mile land parcel in Quay Valley that could see the first test track by 2016.

There’s an important distinction here between Hyperloop Transportation Technologies and the Hyperloop idea’s creator, Elon Musk. HTT is a crowdfunded start-up that aims to put Musk’s Hyperloop plans into action, while Musk himself isn’t actually involved, at least not from what I can tell. Because Musk made his Hyperloop concept and documents free and available to anyone with the guts (and money!) to try and pull it off, HTT might have a shot at beating Musk to the punch in terms of actually bringing the Hyperloop to the world.

The report explains that Musk is building a Hyperloop test track in Texas, which HTT says is “a scaled-down model, allowing for easier testing of the physics involved.” HTT’s plans for its California track, however, will be made for actually transporting human beings. The test track will only be capable of hitting speeds of 200 miles per hour, while Musk’s original plans for the Hyperloop calculated speeds of over 700 miles per hour.

Of course, the test track isn’t a done deal just yet, despite having rights to the land. The report adds that Hyperloop Transportation Technologies plans to raise $100 million to build and run the test track. Just how that’ll happen is up in the air right now, as the startup is investigating a public offering despite the fact that it doesn’t actually sell anything right now.

Still, if HTT can convince enough people to invest, we might all be riding on Hyperloops before we know it! Then again, maybe we should try and get this whole electric car thing to work out first.

[Source: The Verge]