 The Hyperloop, a far-out transportation idea popularized by billionaire Elon Musk, officially came to Texas in the form of hundreds of eager, bright-eyed engineering students participating in the first-ever Hyperloop Pod Design Competition, representing 120 colleges and three high schools. They were all gunning for the ultimate prize, the chance to build and test their designs on Musk's personal Hyperloop track in California this summer. You know, this is the first major Hyperloop event, so we're here to be a part of it, be a part of the community, show off the work we've done. When we saw the announcement for the SpaceX Hyperloop competition, we thought, okay, let's do that. It's a new idea and just introduced. So, as students, you need to know how far you can go with what you have learned so far to make it applicable with something different and something valuable to the community. What inspired you guys to get involved in this competition? Honestly, we thought it was really cool. What is a Hyperloop? Imagine an aluminum pod filled with passengers, levitating on a cushion of air and traveling through an elevated tube at transonic speeds. We're talking 700-800 miles per hour, slightly faster than a Boeing 747. It sounds fantastical, but it's closer than you think, and these students are at the forefront of that movement. The Hyperloop, to me, means being able to connect cities, making it more efficient than a plane, but as convenient as a train. I want people to just very conveniently be able to travel very high distances while barely using any energy. Obviously, this is like a big idea. It doesn't exist yet in the world. You guys think that it has the chance to actually happen? Oh, definitely. We're seeing, 10 years from now, Hyperloops connecting cities and towns. Oh, definitely. The technology is here. This amazing competition is really an impetus for technology to be built and for the system to be built full scale. I'm very excited for the future. It's really not about winning. It's about really just developing this product as a whole and developing the Hyperloop system as a whole. That's the point of the competition. As you can see from my experience, a lot of energy, a lot of work. People have worked so hard. You realize that, okay, you are part of something big and you need to work more on it. They came from all over California, Wisconsin, and Washington, as well as South Africa, Pakistan, and Egypt. They presented their designs for Hyperloop pods and stations, subsystems for levitation, propulsion, pressurization, and braking. We're designing a full pod. It will be about 12 feet long. We plan to enter this for the June competition. Our pod is more focused on the passenger experience. A person steps inside your pod to travel from LA to San Francisco, for instance. What's that experience going to be like? What are they going to be seeing, hearing, feeling? Feeling very, very little because the control systems on this had to be very, very precise. Even a few millimeters moving here and there would not be acceptable. As in a plane, you might feel turbulence. This thing will be the smoothest ride you ever have. I like that idea. Yeah, it's great. The idea of traveling at speeds of 200 miles an hour, Elon Musk's design has it going maybe 700 miles per hour. Is that something that's safe? Do you feel like that is something that people are going to be willing to put themselves into if it comes down to it? We're going to have to prove it to people to show them that this is safe. In fact, that's why our design from the start, and actually that was one of my functions within the group, was to say this thing must not, it can fail, but it has to fail gracefully. Or as we like to call in systems engineering, graceful degradation. It's great to see all the different designs. All the teams are obviously very passionate about the technology and about the Hyperloop idea, the concept. It's great just to be in here. The vibe, the excitement for the future of Hyperloop and transportation is palpable, right? But the students weren't the only ones in attendance. Several of the high profile companies that are actively involved in building Hyperloops were there to stake out their positions in this increasingly competitive field. But the biggest shocker was the surprise appearance of Musk himself, who offered a sneak peek at this summer's Pod Race that he was hosting. The crowd greeted him like a rock star, and he left them feeling like all their efforts were about to pay off.