Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) and SpaceX, is again tantalizing his investors with news of his almost implausible plans.
Over the weekend, Musk revealed via Twitter that his companies' upgraded Hyperloop transport pod will be subject to a test soon.
Upgraded SpaceX/Tesla Hyperloop pod speed test soon. Will try to reach half speed of sound (and brake) within ~1.2km.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 8, 2018
Half the speed of sound would be a speed of about 383.7 miles per hour.
The Hyperloop is Musk’s idea for whisking people from one city to another at bullet speeds. But even he admits that given the short length of the course, this test “could easily end up being shredded metal.”
This is kinda nutty for such a short distance, so could easily end up being shredded metal, but exciting either way
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 8, 2018
Musk first talked publicly about his ideas for a bullet-speed transportation system back in 2013. Since then, he has been engaged actively in its development and has even organized collaborative events for students to design their own transportation pods.
Space X’s third contest, the 2018 Hyperloop Pod competition, will focus on a single factor -- maximum -- speed and take place in late July of this year.
Tesla shares were up 2.6% to US$297.23 in morning trade.