Aug 20, 2015 9:00 AM

Gallery: So Elon Musk's Hyperloop Is Actually Getting Kinda Serious

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Hyperloop Transportation Technologies announced today that it has signed agreements to work with Oerlikon Leybold Vacuum and global engineering design firm Aecom, validation that it's a serious project.
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The Hyperloop is a transportation network of above-ground tubes that could span hundreds of miles.

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With extremely low air pressure inside those tubes, capsules filled with people would zip through them at near supersonic speeds.
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The startup plans to start construction on a full-scale, passenger-ready Hyperloop in 2016.

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The prototype will run 5 miles through Quay Valley, a planned community rising from nothing along Interstate 5, midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles.
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“I don’t think the construction hurdles are significant compared to other technologies that are already out there,” says Carl Brockmeyer, Oerlikon’s head of business development. “From a technical point of view, it’s not a challenge. We are used to much higher and harsher applications.”

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