Elon Musk abandons Hyperloop project months after ramping up testing
Elon Musk has reportedly abandoned his futuristic high-speed transportation project Hyperloop just six months after announcing plans to begin “full-scale” testing.
Hyperloop has been ‘indefinitely shelved’, according to Bloomberg today.
The eccentric billionaire’s $44bn takeover of social media giant Twitter finalised last week, making him the ‘Chief Twit’ of yet another technology heavyweight.
The ambitious project, overseen by Musk’s lesser-known tech firm The Boring Company, involved levitating pods running through tunnels at over 600 miles per hour. It intended to take Americans from Los Angeles to San Francisco in just 35 minutes.
In April, Musk announced that his company could be attempting to build a working Hyperloop after The Boring Company raised $675m (£592m), taking it to a $5.7bn (£5bn) valuation.
The idea was first floated in a white paper in 2013, with a mile-long prototype being built three-years later. The California-based prototype, which was tested in 2017 at speeds of 70 miles per hour, was torn down earlier this year.
City PM has contacted The Boring Company for comment.