The Drum Awards for Marketing - Extended Deadline

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By Angela Haggerty, Reporter

August 11, 2013 | 2 min read

Curiosity and speculation is growing as Paypal co-founder and SpaceX founder Elon Musk hints he will soon reveal initial designs for the creation of a new mode of transport called 'The Hyperloop'.

It’s understood the transport system would be faster than current methods of transportation and could transport passengers from LA to San Francisco in just 30 minutes.

Musk is not planning to patent the design and will instead leave it out to open source, which means others can get involved in building or modifying designs.

He has detailed plans for a weather-immune ‘fifth mode of transport’ which can’t crash, would be powered by solar panels and would travel at twice the speed of aircraft.

During an online conversation with Sir Richard Branson this week, Musk said reading about a high speed rail project in California which had suffered setbacks had inspired him to think about better transporation methods, adding he felt “a little sad” when technology failed to get better.

“Another example would be like the Concorde being retired and the fact there is no supersonic passenger transport. I think that is sad. You want the future to be better than the past, or at least I do.

“The Hyperloop is something that would go effectively faster than the speed of sound. Conceivable you could live in San Fran and work in LA.”

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