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SpaceX to build massive, new Hyperloop tunnel for 2020 competition, says Elon Musk
SpaceX just completed its fourth hosted Hyperloop competition since its 2017 debut and Hyperloop inventor and CEO Elon Musk capped the successful event with a big claim: in 2020, SpaceX plans to host Competition 5 at a brand-new vacuum tunnel that could offer all kinds of new opportunities to next year’s student teams.
According to Musk, that new track – presumably to be built by The Boring Company with SpaceX help – could be up to 10 km (6.2 mi) in length, will support a full vacuum like its 1.6 km (1 mi) predecessor, and will feature a curved track. Altogether, those features could support truly insane top speeds and allow teams to test pods with far more realistic acceleration profiles relative to those that have been tested at SpaceX’s track in the last few years. Furthermore, Musk specifically described the new track as a “10km vacuum tunnel”, immediately bringing to mind the obvious possibility of a new Boring Company collaboration.
As mentioned above, SpaceX just wrapped up its fourth Hyperloop competition in two years. Of the 21 teams that won slots in the event, only four were judged by SpaceX to be ready for speed runs. Of those four, the German team TUM Hyperloop (formerly WARR Hyperloop) reached a top speed of 288 mph (463 km/h, 128 m/s) before the pod suffered visible damage and performed a flawless emergency stop, pulling dozens of Gs and coming to a halt in just 50-100m.
In a nominal outcome, TUM Hyperloop anticipated that their fourth-generation pod could reach a top speed of more than half the speed of sound (~380+ mph, 600+ km/h). In 2018, they achieved a spectacular top speed of 290 mph, just slightly edging out Pod IV’s pre-anomaly performance this year. The runner-up, Swissloop, reached a still-impressive top speed of ~160 mph (260 km/h), a demonstrating of just how far ahead of its peers TUM/WARR remains.
At the end of the day, speed records are just icing on the Hyperloop Competition cake, following the main motivation of offering an almost unbeatable applied engineering learning opportunity for student groups around the world.
Hyperloop Alpha?
Assuming SpaceX and/or The Boring Company manage to pull off a minor engineering miracle and successfully build a “10km vacuum tunnel” in a single year, the company will have easily set itself up to host countless more competitions in the coming years. Additionally, assuming that “tunnel” refers to a full-scale tunnel capable of being built by The Boring Company, SpaceX’s new Hyperloop test facilities will be at or very near full-scale relative to the operational, human-rated transportation system that is the concept’s ultimate goal.
The test tunnel quite literally bored under the current above-ground Hyperloop track has a final usable diameter of 12 feet (3.7m), more than double the 6-foot (1.8m) diameter of the track currently used for competitions. Additionally, it would be even larger than Hyperloop One’s ~11 foot (3.3m) diameter Nevada test track. Ultimately, such a large tunnel would simultaneously give The Boring Company experience with building a true vacuum tunnel system and provide an opportunity for full-scale vacuum train (i.e. hyperloop) testing over unprecedented distances.
Maybe, just maybe, Elon Musk is thinking about putting a bit more time into turning his original Hyperloop concept into a finished product.
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Tesla made a change to the Cybertruck, and nobody noticed. But to be fair, nobody could have, but it was revealed by the program’s lead engineer that it was aimed toward simplifying manufacturing through a minor change in casting.
After the Cybertruck was given a Top Safety Pick+ award by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), for its reputation as the safest pickup on the market, some wondered what had changed about the vehicle.
Tesla makes changes to its vehicles routinely through Over-the-Air software updates, but aesthetic changes are relatively rare. Vehicles go through refreshes every few years, as the Model 3 and Model Y did earlier this year. However, the Cybertruck is one of the vehicles that has not changed much since its launch in late 2023, but it has gone through some minor changes.
Most recently, Wes Morrill, the Cybertruck program’s Lead Engineer, stated that the company had made a minor change to the casting of the all-electric pickup for manufacturing purposes. This change took place in April:
We made a minor change on the casting for manufacturability in April. Our Internal testing shows no difference in crash result but IIHS only officially tested the latest version
— Wes (@wmorrill3) December 17, 2025
The change is among the most subtle that can be made, but it makes a massive difference in manufacturing efficiency, build quality, and scalability.
Morrill revealed Tesla’s internal testing showed no difference in crash testing results performed by the IIHS.
The 2025 Cybertruck received stellar ratings in each of the required testing scenarios and categories. The Top Safety Pick+ award is only given if it excels in rigorous crash tests. This requires ‘Good’ ratings in updated small and moderate overlap front, side, roof, and head restraints.
Additionally, it must have advanced front crash prevention in both day and night. Most importantly, the vehicle must have a ‘Good’ or ‘Acceptable’ headlights standard on all trims, with the “+ ” specifically demanding the toughest new updated moderate overlap test that checks rear-seat passenger protection alongside driver safety.
Tesla has entered an interesting situation with its Full Self-Driving suite in California, as the State’s Department of Motor Vehicles had adopted an order for a suspension of the company’s sales license, but it immediately put it on hold.
The company has been granted a reprieve as the DMV is giving Tesla an opportunity to “remedy the situation.” After the suspension was recommended for 30 days as a penalty, the DMV said it would give Tesla 90 days to allow the company to come into compliance.
The DMV is accusing Tesla of misleading consumers by using words like Autopilot and Full Self-Driving on its advanced driver assistance (ADAS) features.
The State’s DMV Director, Steve Gordon, said that he hoped “Tesla will find a way to get these misleading statements corrected.” However, Tesla responded to the story on Tuesday, stating that this was a “consumer protection” order for the company using the term Autopilot.
It said “not one single customer came forward to say there’s a problem.” It added that “sales in California will continue uninterrupted.”
This was a “consumer protection” order about the use of the term “Autopilot” in a case where not one single customer came forward to say there’s a problem.
Sales in California will continue uninterrupted.
— Tesla North America (@tesla_na) December 17, 2025
Tesla has used the terms Autopilot and Full Self-Driving for years, but has added the term “(Supervised)” to the end of the FSD suite, hoping to remedy some of the potential issues that regulators in various areas might have with the labeling of the program.
It might not be too long before Tesla stops catching flak for using the Full Self-Driving name to describe its platform.
Tesla Robotaxi goes driverless as Musk confirms Safety Monitor removal testing
The Robotaxi suite has continued to improve, and this week, vehicles were spotted in Austin without any occupants. CEO Elon Musk would later confirm that Tesla had started testing driverless rides in Austin, hoping to launch rides without any supervision by the end of the year.
Tesla stock (NASDAQ: TSLA) closed at an all-time high on Tuesday, jumping over 3 percent during the day and finishing at $489.88.
The price beats the previous record close, which was $479.86.
Shares have had a crazy year, dipping more than 40 percent from the start of the year. The stock then started to recover once again around late April, when its price started to climb back up from the low $200 level.
This week, Tesla started to climb toward its highest levels ever, as it was revealed on Sunday that the company was testing driverless Robotaxis in Austin. The spike in value pushed the company’s valuation to $1.63 trillion.
Tesla Robotaxi goes driverless as Musk confirms Safety Monitor removal testing
It is the seventh-most valuable company on the market currently, trailing Nvidia, Apple, Alphabet (Google), Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta.
Shares closed up $14.57 today, up over 3 percent.
The stock has gone through a lot this year, as previously mentioned. Shares tumbled in Q1 due to CEO Elon Musk’s involvement with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which pulled his attention away from his companies and left a major overhang on their valuations.
However, things started to rebound halfway through the year, and as the government started to phase out the $7,500 tax credit, demand spiked as consumers tried to take advantage of it.
Q3 deliveries were the highest in company history, and Tesla responded to the loss of the tax credit with the launch of the Model 3 and Model Y Standard.
Additionally, analysts have announced high expectations this week for the company on Wall Street as Robotaxi continues to be the focus. With autonomy within Tesla’s sights, things are moving in the direction of Robotaxi being a major catalyst for growth on the Street in the coming year.
Tesla made a change to the Cybertruck and nobody noticed
Tesla enters interesting situation with Full Self-Driving in California
