海角大神

The year 1698 brought the first commercially available steam engine; 1908, the first affordable automobile; and 2016, the Hyperloop. Or at least that鈥檚 what two California companies and Elon Musk are hoping.

鈥淓lon Musk first introduced his idea for the Hyperloop in August 2013. His design called for aluminum pods that could hold people or cars that would be fired through tubes pulled by electromagnetic force,鈥� reported 海角大神 earlier this year. 鈥淟ow pressure compartments and compressor fans would lessen friction, allowing pods to travel at up to 800 m.p.h. 鈥� meaning you could travel from Los Angeles to San Francisco in 30 minutes.鈥�

At the time of the announcement, Musk said he would probably build a prototype, remarking 鈥淚f it was my top priority, I could probably get it done in one or two years."

Unfortunately, Mr. Musk was busy as CEO of both Tesla and SpaceX, unable to devote time to developing the idea, and instead publicly released his initial urging those interested to make the dream a reality.

A pair of companies took him on, with confusingly similar names 鈥� Hyperloop Technologies and Hyperloop Transportation Technologies.

Started via crowdsourcing on JumpStartFund, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies offers stock options for anyone willing to work a minimum of 10 hours a week. The company鈥檚 website boasts an ambitious , but fails to shed any light on testing progress, instead just outlining the idea.

Furthermore, the latest post on their site is from February, so it鈥檚 unclear what the company has been doing the past six months. But The Verge reports the company has 鈥渁lready begun building models for , although they have yet to produce a working prototype.鈥�

While the progress and credibility of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies is questionable, Hyperloop Technologies seems to be doing some real work.

With an $80 million investment round in progress, announced Wednesday that it now has a CEO.

Rob Lloyd, former CEO of Cisco, will be leading some fifty employees, including former Google, Facebook, and Snapchat executive聽Emily White and former White House deputy chief of staff Jim Messina. With no lack of talent, the team will work on constructing a two-mile long track, which the company says could be complete in 2016 or early 2017 if the investment round closes successfully.

The company鈥檚 overall goal is to develop a route from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, with sections going underwater. This is even more outlandish than Musk鈥檚 original idea, but the company has already 鈥渕et with Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D) of Nevada and Las Vegas investor Anthony Marnell in an effort to find a way around the for high-speed rails between Las Vegas and Nevada.鈥�

Hyperloop Tech, operating out of a Los Angeles 鈥渋nnovation campus,鈥� has developing and testing compressor technology, building a levitation test rig, and designing the tube architecture.

鈥淭he Hyperloop vision is . Developing the most transformative new mode of transportation that the world has seen in decades will have a profound impact on people, on economies and on how we all live in the future,鈥� wrote Mr. Lloyd on the company blog.

Hyperloop Technologies 鈥渃urrently looks to be the to bring the idea of the Hyperloop closer to reality,鈥� The Verge鈥檚 Micah Singleton remarks.

But skeptics argue that the most important questions, such as speed and cost, will not be answered with such a short track.

鈥淎s long as the tests are , it's not clear we'll ever get answers to them,鈥� says Russell Brandom. 鈥淭hat's not to say the Hyperloop will turn into a boondoggle, or that the latest round of testing won't be successful. It really is a promising idea, and more research is always a good thing 鈥� but the road to a fully functional Hyperloop isn鈥檛 getting any shorter.鈥�

And yes, it is still early. Big questions, as well as engineering and logistical challenges remain unsolved. 鈥淵et it鈥檚 equally hard to overstate how dramatically the ,鈥� says Bruce Upbin, Forbes technology reporter.

As Hyperloop Tech鈥檚 website boldly declares, 鈥�.鈥� 聽