Hyperloop is a tradename and a registered trademark of the Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) for the high speed transportation of passengers and goods in partially evacuated tubes.^[1][2]

Recently there has been a resurgence in interest in pneumatic tube transportation systems since being reintroduced, using updated technologies, by Elon Musk after 2012,^[3][4] incorporating reduced-pressure tubes in which pressurized capsules ride on an air cushion driven by linear induction motors and air compressors.^[5]

The outline of the original Hyperloop concept was made public by the release of a preliminary design document in August 2013, which included a notional route running from the Los Angeles region to the San Francisco Bay Area, paralleling the Interstate 5 corridor for most of its length. Preliminary analysis indicated that such a route might obtain an expected journey time of 35 minutes, meaning that passengers would traverse the 350-mile (560 km) route at an average speed of around 600 mph (970 km/h), with a top speed of 760 mph (1,200 km/h). Preliminary cost estimates for the LA–SF notional route were included in the white paper—US$6 billion for a passenger-only version, and US$7.5 billion for a somewhat larger-diameter version transporting passengers and vehicles^[4] —although transportation analysts doubted that the system could be constructed on that budget.^[6

Hyperloop technology has been explicitly open-sourced by Musk and SpaceX, and others have been encouraged to take the ideas and further develop them. To that end, several companies have been formed, and dozens of interdisciplinary student-led teams are working to advance the technology.^[9] However, some experts are sceptical, saying that the proposals ignore the expenses and risks of developing the technology and that the idea is "completely impractical".^[10]

Construction of a full-scale prototype 5-mile (8 km) track started in 2016.^[11] In addition, a subscale pod design competition on a very short, 1 mile (1.6 km), test track was built in Nevada – the first tests of the scale model occurred in May 2016.^[12]