A dozen engineers from SpaceX and Tesla were tasked with developing the conceptual underpinnings and initial designs for a version of a vactrain, or a train made of vacuum tubes, when Musk first revealed his plans in 2013
Later that year, Musk unveiled the concept, which he dubbed the hyperloop. The alpha design for the system was published in a whitepaper posted to the Tesla and SpaceX blogs.
The document scoped out the technology and outlined a notional route where such a transport system could be built between the Greater Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area, at an estimated cost of $6 billion.
If the idea were to be implemented, Hyperloop travel would be more affordable than any other form of transportation over such vast distances.
Vance has since asserted that Musk's Hyperloop plan was initially intended to obstruct a high-speed rail project in California.
In 2015, Musk announced a design competition for students and others to build Hyperloop pods, to operate on a SpaceX-sponsored mile-long track, for a 2015–2017 Hyperloop pod competition.
The track was used in January 2017, and Musk also announced that the company started a tunnel project, with Hawthorne airport as its destination.
In July 2017, Musk claimed that he had received "verbal government approval" to build a hyperloop from New York City to Washington, D.C., with stops in both Philadelphia and Baltimore.
Mention of the projected DC-to-Baltimore leg was removed from the Boring Company website in 2021.[256] The tunnel project to Hawthorne was discontinued in 2022 and is cited to be converted into parking spots for SpaceX workers.