The Boring Company to test ‘full-scale’ hyperloop later this year

Over the weekend CEO Elon Musk said The Boring Company (TBC) would attempt to build a working hyperloop “in the coming years.”

In the coming years, Boring Co will attempt to build a working Hyperloop.

From a known physics standpoint, this is the fastest possible way of getting from one city center to another for distances less than ~2000 miles. Starship is faster for longer journeys.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 24, 2022

In one of the few times an Elon Musk timeline appears to have been conservative, the official Twitter account for TBC one-upped the CEO on Monday by saying the first full-scale hyperloop tests will begin later this year.

Hyperloop testing at full-scale begins later this year.

— The Boring Company (@boringcompany) April 25, 2022

A hyperloop is still a mostly theoretical transportation system that utilizes a low-pressure tube to send pods of passengers or cargo at speeds exceeding 700mph (1,126km/h).

The idea came from Musk in 2013, but with other priorities he decided instead to release the basic engineering plans and encouraged others to develop the idea.

Although some prototypes have been developed, there is still no working example of a hyperloop nearly a decade later.

In a follow-up tweet, Musk explained one of the advantages of an underground hyperloop tunnel in that it would immune to surface weather, something that would be particularly useful when evacuating people from areas experiencing natural disasters like a hurricane.

TransPod ‘hyperloop’ between Edmonton and Calgary could begin construction by 2025