That changed Saturday, when Musk made a sort-of-surprise appearance at the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Design Competition at Texas A&M University.

Hyperloops will use partially pressurized tubes to propel "pods" or passenger cars on a bed of air at speeds of up to 760 mph. SpaceX hosted a competition this weekend in which students designed the pods that will be tested on a mile-long track that SpaceX is building outside of its headquarters later this year.

Musk wasn't scheduled to appear at the competition, but when you throw a party for more than a thousand college students who idolize you, you've kind of got to show, right?

"What I really intended to do with the hyperloop was spur interest in new forms of transportation," Musk said to the students, who were hanging on his every word. "I'm starting to think it's really going to happen. With this level of attention, it's clear the public and the world want something new and I think you're going to bring it to them."

"What inspired me was I was stuck in LA traffic, I was an hour late for a talk and thought, 'there's got to be some better way to get around,'" Musk added.