Students and research teams everywhere are vying for that chance to win Elon Musk's challenge to create the fastest transportation is getting a lot of attention. And a few have been chosen to move to the next Hyperloop round.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk challenges students everywhere to create a passenger module that could travel in a tube at speeds of over 1,200 km/hr. And it looks like a team of 120 people, including undergraduates from the University of Waterloo, made the semi-final round along with a few chosen other groups.

The University of Waterloo batch is the only Canadian group that made it into the next stage in Musk's Hyperloop Competition, cites CBC. Their design is a passenger pod that is able to travel from point A (Ontario) to point B (British Columbia) in just under three hours.

The person leading the U of Waterloo team is Montgomery de Luna and he calls the project "Waterloop." De Luna, whi is currently working on his master's degree in architecture, explains that it is like a train with the speed of an airplane.

Using plastic components that came from a 3D printer, and some aluminum, they created a laser cut pod. He also adds that their design levitates. The team successfully created a Waterloop that floats off the ground. At a five millimeter raise, the pod was able to float despite weighing over 225 kilograms. He explains that their design almost does not incur friction when it levitates which means that once it accelerates, nothing can slow it down.

Hernando Castano, a member of the team, says that friction is not possible when it comes to breaking because the brake pads will wear out and create heat. Castano helped build the Waterloop's brakes.

Although the test takes time to prepare, the team is proud of using low-cost components that can even be purchased from the local hardware store.

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Topics SpaceX, Elon Musk, Hyperloop, Science, Stem, Education