Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors and SpaceX, announced a contest for engineers and university students this week that asks them to design transport pods for the Hyperloop, his conceptual high-speed transportation system.
CNN Money reported that the Hyperloop concept was unveiled 2013, but has come a long way toward real-life testing in the intervening years.
Last month, it was revealed that the Hyperloop was getting a 1-mile test track near Interstate 5 in Hawthorne, California, and the contest seeks to help engineers build concept pods to test in the track come June 2016.
"Neither SpaceX nor Elon Musk is affiliated with any Hyperloop companies,"
SpaceX noted in competition document. "While we are not developing a commercial Hyperloop ourselves, we are interested in helping to accelerate development of a functional Hyperloop prototype."
In theory, the conceptual system envisions transporting people at 800 miles per hour in a 400-mile-long depressurized tube stretching from Los Angeles to San Francisco, but faces many technological hurdles.
Such a trip would make for a 30-minute commute between the two western cities, however even if the concept's technical challenges were overcome, the question of acquiring land for the track remains.
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