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| Elon Musk in front of The Boring Company Hawthorne test tunnel. (Creative Commons License). |
Every now and then, new tech buzzwords become popular and everybody interested in these new trending technologies tries to get in on the trend. You might have suddenly started hearing about Hyperloop. However, it is not just a fancy term as Elon Musk, CEO of The Boring Company, and a handful of other companies have built test Hyperloop tunnels.
What is Hyperloop, and why did The Boring Company build a test tunnel? Read the rest of this article to find out.
It can be hard to keep up with all the tech terms, but the newest addition, the Hyperloop, is a newly proposed form of ground transport that enables passengers to attain speeds of over 700 miles per hour, using specially made pods. The pods move inside tubes with most of the air sucked out to reduce friction, either underground or above the ground.
As you would have noticed, the Hyperloop is different from the traditional railway because it works in the absence of air. Also, the pods float through magnetic levitation, unlike the trains connected to the track through their wheels.
Musk hates traffic gridlock, and in fact, refers to it as soul-crushing. This is not surprising because he has to maximize his time to run all of his companies efficiently. Hence, Musk supports any move to cut down delays due to road traffic, and one excellent move is Hyperloop.
The billionaire wrote a whitepaper extolling the technology. However, he has done more than just writing to promote Hyperloop.
To promote the technology and bring it faster to the public, The Boring Company has built its own Hyperloop test track at SpaceX’s headquarters in Hawthorne, California. It is about a mile long and six feet in outer diameter.
The test track hosts the Hyperloop Pod competition, which tries to stimulate the development of Hyperloop prototypes and also encourage student innovation and interest in the tech. University teams compete on changing rules like fastest time without crashing or maximum speed with successful deceleration.
What is Hyperloop, and why did The Boring Company build a test tunnel? Read the rest of this article to find out.
What Is Hyperloop?
It can be hard to keep up with all the tech terms, but the newest addition, the Hyperloop, is a newly proposed form of ground transport that enables passengers to attain speeds of over 700 miles per hour, using specially made pods. The pods move inside tubes with most of the air sucked out to reduce friction, either underground or above the ground.
As you would have noticed, the Hyperloop is different from the traditional railway because it works in the absence of air. Also, the pods float through magnetic levitation, unlike the trains connected to the track through their wheels.
The Hyperloop is a newly proposed form of ground transport that enables passengers to attain speeds of over 700 miles per hour, using specially made pods.
Hyperloop enables faster transport because of the lack of friction between the passenger pods and the track it travels on. It is also touted to be less polluting, will carry many more passengers, and some analysts claim the cost of running Hyperloop is cheaper than traditional trains we use today. All of this will also help reduce the pressure on the roads as populations grow and car manufacturers create new fleets of cars.
Why Has The Boring Company built A Hyperloop Test Tunnel?
Musk hates traffic gridlock, and in fact, refers to it as soul-crushing. This is not surprising because he has to maximize his time to run all of his companies efficiently. Hence, Musk supports any move to cut down delays due to road traffic, and one excellent move is Hyperloop.
The billionaire wrote a whitepaper extolling the technology. However, he has done more than just writing to promote Hyperloop.
To promote the technology and bring it faster to the public, The Boring Company has built its own Hyperloop test track at SpaceX’s headquarters in Hawthorne, California. It is about a mile long and six feet in outer diameter.
The test track hosts the Hyperloop Pod competition, which tries to stimulate the development of Hyperloop prototypes and also encourage student innovation and interest in the tech. University teams compete on changing rules like fastest time without crashing or maximum speed with successful deceleration.
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The Boring Company