Musk's SpaceX Dismantles Hyperloop Prototype, Puts Up a Parking Lot
Erik Wright was thrilled when he got the news in 2016 that his business had been selected to help with an ambitious technology project: building the prototype tunnel for Elon Musk's Hyperloop. The initiative was envisioned as a test run for a futuristic transportation system involving levitating pods hurtling through tubes at speeds of hundreds of miles per hour. Earlier this year, Wright got a text with an update on the tunnel: It was slated to be torn down.
The demise of the test tunnel — a roughly mile-long white cylinder running along Jack Northrop Avenue near the Space Exploration Technologies Corp. office in Hawthorne, California — is symbolic of a larger retreat. While Musk still says he wants to build a Hyperloop, the project has been indefinitely shelved. Musk did end up founding a tunnel-based company called Boring Co., but it falls short of levitation and jet-like speeds. Instead, at its transit system in Las Vegas, Teslas drive conference-goers through dedicated subterranean roads at a ho-hum pace.
Boring Co. and SpaceX representatives didn't respond to requests for comment.
Still, Wright said, the short-lived test project remains a highlight of his career. Back when his company, San Luis Obispo, California-based Precision Construction Services, took the work, it was a small firm with just a handful of accomplishments. Since then, it has landed several high profile gigs, including building a 3D printing lab for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and work on various launch facilities at Vandenberg Space Force Base.
“The Hyperloop is quite a badge of honor for us,” Wright said. It even helped the company land several non-transportation contracts, such as an 8,000 square foot climbing gym.
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