Elon Musk Called For A 'Hyperloop' And These Students Answered

04:41

January 29, 2016

Senior Oliver Tillman and junior Frederick Wachter are part of the Drexel Hyperloop Team. They use air compression in their design. (Kimberly Paynter/WHYY)

In 2013, the inventor and billionaire Elon Musk laid out an idea - a sort of "moonshot" for transportation. Musk called it the hyperloop, and he envisioned it reaching speeds in excess of 700 miles per hour, propelling passengers in a solar-powered train-like pod from places like San Francisco to Los Angeles in 35 minutes.

Musk and his team at SpaceX weren't interested in designing and building the hyperloop themselves though. Instead, they put out a call for ideas from around the globe based on their suggestions.

This weekend, 120 finalists will be pitching their prototypes. Among them is a group of students from Drexel University in Philadelphia. Todd Bookman from Here & Now contributor WHYY has their story.

Read more via newsworks/WHYY

A rendering of the Drexel team's hyperloop pod. (Drexel University)

Reporter

Todd Bookman, covers innovation in the fields of health and science for WHYY in Philadelphia. He tweets @toddbookman.

This segment aired on January 29, 2016.