I don't see how Elon is going to build the tube and then have students independently develop pods that they can just shove in Elon's tube and race against each other.<p>The proposed tubes in the whitepaper will cost upwards of $200 000. They also need to be carefully engineered to match the size and propulsion technologies as the tube.<p>How on Earth are student departments going to be able to afford anything of this scale or even be able to create something that could be inserted into a particular tube eventually? Not to mention that the technology is very out-there and I'd assume not within the realm of students or common engineers.