Elon Musk first mentioned that he was thinking about a concept for a "fifth mode of transport", calling it the Hyperloop, in July 2012 at a PandoDaily event in Santa Monica, California. He described several characteristics of what he wanted in a hypothetical high-speed transportation system: immunity to weather, cars that never experience crashes, an average speed twice that of a typical jet, low power requirements, and the ability to store energy for 24-hour operations.[9]
Musk has likened the Hyperloop to a "cross between a Concorde and a railgun and an air hockey table,"[10] while noting that it has no need for rails.[9][11] He believes it could work either below or above ground.[12]
From late 2012 until August 2013, an informal group of engineers at both Tesla and SpaceX worked on the conceptual foundation and modelling of Hyperloop, allocating some full-time effort to it toward the end.[13] An early design for the system was then published in a white paper posted to the Tesla and SpaceX blogs.[2][14] Musk has also said he invites feedback to "see if the people can find ways to improve it"; it will be an open source design, with anyone free to use and modify it.[15] The following day he announced a plan to construct a demonstration of the concept.[13][dated info]
In January 2015, Musk announced that he would construct a Hyperloop test track, which may be located in Texas. The track would be a loop of around 5 miles (8 km) in length and would be entirely privately funded. It would allow university and private teams to test and refine different transport pod designs.[16][17]
In June 2015, SpaceX announced that it would build a 1-mile-long (1.6 km) test track to be located next to SpaceX's Hawthorne facility. The track would be used to test pod designs supplied by third parties that are entered into a design competition.[18][19] Construction on a 5-mile (8 km) Hyperloop test track is to start on a Hyperloop Transportation Technologies-owned site in Quay Valley in 2016.[20][21]