Elon Musk Has Posted Some 220mph Hyperloop Test Footage, And It'll Make Your Head Go Weird

See the rather blurry video above? That’s a scaled down Hyperloop model hitting 220mph in a very short space of time.

A team of German students selected via one of Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s Hyperloop competitions is behind the project, which features a 0.8 mile test tube. 220mph was as much as it could do before starting to burn, although Musk is confident that 500km/h (310mph) should be possible once a “few tweaks” are made.

The rapid acceleration and deceleration is merely a result of the short test track. Musk Tweeted earlier this week: “For passenger transport, this can be spread over 20+ miles, so no spilt drinks.”

Musk has been talking about the prospect of Hyperloop for a good few years now. The idea centres around a sealed tube, allowing a magnetic levitation (or maglev) transportation vehicle to reach high speeds with minimal effort, thanks to the absence of air resistance provided by the tube’s vacuum. The aim is to have Hyperloop trains hit 1000kmh (621mph) eventually.

In July, Musk said that he’d been given “verbal government approval” for The Boring Company - a firm set up by the 46-year-old with the aim of reducing the high costs associated with tunneling - to dig a tunnel between New York City and Washington DC. A Hyperloop vehicle could apparently run between the two cities in under 30 minutes.

It’s very early days for the Hyperloop concept, and there are plenty of skeptics out there pointing out potential issues with technical feasibility, cost and safety. Whatever happens though, it should be fascinating to see the tech develop.