There are now three test tracks in the works for Elon Musk's Hyperloop
Elon Musk's futuristic Hyperloop transportation system continues to advance through the planning stages.
A conceptual design rendering of the Hyperloop passenger transport capsule, released by Tesla Motors.
Tesla Motors/AP/File
Elon Musk may not have much interest in making his futuristic "Hyperloop" transportation system a reality, but there are plenty of others who do.
Since Musk first announced the concept, multiple entities have stepped forward to build functional versions of the Hyperloop--which uses capsules suspended in tubes to transport passengers at high speeds.
In fact, there are now not one, but three Hyperloop test tracks in the planning stages.
The latest proposal is for a one-mile test track to be built by global infrastructure firm AECOM at the Los Angeles headquarters of Musk's SpaceX company, according to Autoblog Green.
SpaceX headquarters is located in a fairly built-up area in Hawthorne, California, near Los Angeles International Airport.
The site likely doesn't encompass enough space for a mile-long track, so AECOM may have to build across streets, and through adjacent properties.
It reportedly hopes to open the track by the end of this summer, and use it to test prototype pods based on designs from a competition being held at Texas A&M University.
The prototypes will be about half the size of the ones in Musk's original proposal, and won't carry people.
That announcement comes hot on the heels of startup Hyperloop Transportation Technologies' (HTT) plan to break ground on a 5-mile track in California's Quay Valley later this year.
HTT plans to use this short Hyperloop to transport residents of an area development, and expects construction to cost $100 to $170 million, spokesman Ben Cooke said recently.
The company has indicated that its first full-scale Hyperloop will be built somewhere outside the U.S., preferably in a country with relatively little existing transportation infrastructure.
Finally, another startup called Hyperloop Technologies Inc. plans to build a test track of its own in North Las Vegas, Nevada.
The initial track will reportedly be used to test ways to propel capsules, while a second track will be built to test the complete system.
Coincidentally, North Las Vegas is also where electric-car startup Faraday Future--a company some analysts view as a potential rival to Musk's Tesla Motors--will build a $1 billion factory.
This article first appeared at GreenCarReports.