— The Boring Company (@boringcompany) November 5, 2022 There’s definitely a Loop in this rendering but the hyper piece may derive from “hype” rather than speed. The company didn’t confirm where this new Hyperloop test tube is located, but it looks like it could be in Texas based on the sky in those pictures. The Boring Company has a piece of land near Austin, where it is conducting some testing. On its website under the “Hyperloop” project, the company still refers to “the 0.8 mile Hyperloop Test Track, or Hypertube” constructed by SpaceX in Hawthorne, but this is clearly not that as it fits a full-size car unlike the test track for the SpaceX hyperloop student competition. Hype or Hyper? Speaking of full-size cars, The Boring Company is putting a Tesla vehicle in the tube in those pictures, which is interesting considering the Hyperloop was originally expected to require special pressurized vehicles in order to work in a near-vacuum environment. With a Tesla at normal atmospheric pressure, it is just an underground highway. The startup doesn’t mention a low-pressure environment in its description of the Hyperloop on its website: Hyperloop is an ultra-high-speed public transportation system in which passengers travel in autonomous electric pods at 600+ miles per hour. Boring Company tunnels support both Loop and Hyperloop systems. The Boring Company has confirmed that it is currently working with “various local governments and private stakeholders” about developing hyperloop systems. Electrek’s Take Critics have often said that the whole idea for the Hyperloop was to “derail” California’s plans for high speed trains. I don’t necessarily buy that. But I also don’t understand the density of commuters calculation when you compare a train/subway with “Teslas in a tube.” I can’t make it make sense. Don’t get me wrong, I think underground tubes for transportation make a ton of sense, pulling cars off the surface of the earth. If The Boring Company can make strides there, I’m all for it. But compare a high speed autonomous subway (which already exists in monorail form in Las Vegas) with the Las Vegas Loop with paid drivers driving Teslas, and it just doesn’t make sense. Add Electrek to your Google News feed.