Elon Musk's grand transportation vision

[Kngkyle]

The biggest deal breaker with this idea in today's world is the absolute ease with which the entire system can be compromised, killing or injuring hundreds of people.

[Speculator]

Originally Posted by Kngkyle

The biggest deal breaker with this idea in today's world is the absolute ease with which the entire system can be compromised, killing or injuring hundreds of people.

Would seem to be a safe as any other mode of transport IMO.

[badrunner]

Originally Posted by Speculator

Would seem to be a safe as any other mode of transport IMO.

After a century of engineering and development maybe.

[Speculator]

Originally Posted by badrunner

After a century of engineering and development maybe.

Explain please.

[badrunner]

Air travel is as safe as it is because of all the billions invested in R&D, the decades of trial and error, the many disasters and subsequent investigations to determine exactly what went wrong and how to prevent it in the future. Not to mention the massive military spending without which commercial air travel may have never gotten off the ground.

The engineering challenges facing evacuated tube transport are not trivial. I doubt we'll see a working system in our lifetime. I do think it will eventually become a ubiquitous form of transport, perhaps centuries from now. I see it replacing all forms of long distance travel, including air and HSR, and achieving speeds an order of magnitude greater than today's commercial aircraft. There's really no practical speed limit. That's why it's been a favorite of sci-fi writers for so long. The concept is sound, but the engineering challenges are monumental.

[mrnyc]

^ very true, but it would be great to get a demonstration line up and running somewhere someday -- like from one city to another.

[Kngkyle]

Originally Posted by Speculator

Would seem to be a safe as any other mode of transport IMO.

A single armor piercing bullet penetrating the vacuum tube has the potential to kill hundreds of people. The vacuum tube has to be hundreds of miles long and is exposed to open air. You couldn't make it any easier for terrorists. With the speeds being talked about the potential for a catastrophic incident is pretty high even setting aside the terrorism aspect. Any tiny manufacturing flaw or maintenance miss would be devastating. The system is linked so one failure can have a ripple effect along the whole system. It would be like if one airplane crashing causes every other airplane in the sky to crash as well.

I'm probably exaggerating a little but the risks are extreme and the engineering required to overcome these risks will balloon the costs and make traditional HSR look cheap.

[M II A II R II K]

Hyperloop Transportation Technologies plans to connect all of Europe, starting with the Czech Republic

https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/18/hy...blic/?ncid=rss

.....

- Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT) may be a step behind its rival Hyperloop One but is making its own plans to go global — starting with an announcement today HTT has signed an agreement to explore connecting a hyperloop system from Slovakia to the Czech Republic.

- HTT already has an agreement with the city of Bratislava, Slovakia to build a hyperloop there, but this new agreement will help the startup see if it makes sense to build a system connecting the 80 miles between Brno in the Czech Republic to Bratislava and then 140 miles south to the Czech capital Prague.

.....

• Video Link

[M II A II R II K]

You order an autonomous car via a mobile app. This will then transport you to a hyperloop portal, and from there you can travel from city to city in a matter of minutes. Once you’ve reached your chosen city, your vehicle will uncouple from hyperloop and take you on to your final destination.


• Video Link

[scalziand]

Supposedly he's going to start a tunnel between Spacex HQ and LAX so he doesn't have to sit in traffic.

http://www.nextbigfuture.com/2017/01...g-traffic.html

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/824182024479133698
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/824183010241216512

[badrunner]

He can't walk three minutes to his private jet right next door?

[ssiguy]

I'm no scientist so I have absolutely noooooooo understanding of this technology or whether or not it is viable. I do, however, really applaud Musk's ability to look completely outside of the box. This is the kind of thinking we need if we are to create a true metamorphosis in how we travel, locally and long-distance.

The standard HSR maybe practical but let's face it, they are not near as fast or cheap to build as some potential systems but they get political backing due to the huge sums of money Bombardier, Alstom, Siemens get/have gotten from their respective governments and the politicians pockets they have lined. Bombardier in Canada is awash with federal and provincial grants and a LOT of kickbacks to our corrupt politicians. Bombardier might as well have it's own Government of Canada bank account and Trudeau's personal phone number.

Unfortunately for our environment and especially travelling public, governments and politicians have a vested interest in making sure that no small alternative company and alternative ideas make the light of day.

[ChargerCarl]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

I'm no scientist so I have absolutely noooooooo understanding of this technology or whether or not it is viable.

It's not. Musk's ideas are half-baked at best.

[Kenmore]

Originally Posted by ChargerCarl

It's not. Musk's ideas are half-baked at best.

yep

this dude has the worst reddit tier level fanboys

[electricron]

SpaceX's Hyperloop competition finally puts pods in the tube.
https://www.engadget.com/2017/01/30/...petition-2017/
Only three out of 27 teams made it to the final round. And while Elon Musk's original post about the Hyperloop envisioned cars floating on air, each of the finalists used magnets. Marianna Avezum, from team Warr, told Engadget that her group decided to disable the magnets on their prototype and just use the wheels to reduce friction. That gamble paid off when the team was awarded the prize Sunday for the fastest run.

Wheel vehicles within a tube in a vacuum isn't my idea of new break through technology.
Oh well, not one of the 27 teams actually accomplished what was envisioned originally. How sad!

[Hatman]

I've been critical of the Hyperloop as a complete replacement of high speed trains, but I don't doubt that Elon Musk and his cohorts at SpaceX and Tesla could actually get the thing to work. The fact that the student competition didn't produce a fully-functioning hyperloop prototype doesn't prove that a hyperloop can't (or can) be built - just that they're a lot farther off than hyperloop enthusiasts would like to believe.

It's still really cool to see the pods get pushed down the track in the tube. No sound - it's a near vacume! I think I read this summer they'll do another competition and try to get the speeds up.
• Video Link

[M II A II R II K]

Edmonton-Calgary corridor perfect distance for hyperloop: Expert

http://www.metronews.ca/news/calgary...op-expert.html

.....

- In a post on his blog Spur the New West, Willem Klumpenhouwer argues that the transportation technology being spearheaded by SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk would be idea for the roughly 300km trip. “From a planning perspective and from a technology perspective – I don’t think it’s the stuff of science fiction any more,” he said.

- Although no hyperloop has been built yet, Musk recently hosted a competition at SpaceX headquarters where engineers tested proof-of-concept designs in a mile-long tube. A working hyperloop could still be 20 or 30 years out, but then again, that’s at least how far away a high-speed rail might be as well. Klumpenhouwer said Edmonton is just far enough away to make the three-hour drive a pain, but to make flying not quite worth it.

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[M II A II R II K]

The hyperloop is ready for its big ‘Kitty Hawk’ moment — and may be coming to a US city near you

http://www.theverge.com/2017/4/6/152...ompleted-us-dc

.....

- Today, executives from the Los Angeles-based startup Hyperloop One will gather in Washington, DC, to make two announcements: one is that its test track in the Nevada desert is finally complete and ready to host the first full-system test in the next few months; and the other is that Hyperloop One is eyeing less than a dozen regions in the US as possible future locations for its ultrafast, futuristic transportation system.

- Earlier this year, Hyperloop One announced the winners in a “global challenge” it launched to find possible routes across the world. Over 2,600 submissions were whittled down to 35 semifinalists from 17 countries; 11 of the finalists are from the US. One route suggests a triangular hyperloop linking Austin, Dallas, and Houston. Another would build a hyperloop between Orlando and Miami.

- A hyperloop trip between the two cities would last just over 26 minutes, as compared to 3 hours and 40 minutes by bus or 55 minutes by plane. Additional phases of the project could see the Florida hyperloop extend to Atlanta and then Chicago. “We think this is a corridor that could serve as a national stimulus,” Bravo said, “for this area of innovation and human capital intellect.”

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[emathias]

Originally Posted by electricron

...
Wheel vehicles within a tube in a vacuum isn't my idea of new break through technology.
Oh well, not one of the 27 teams actually accomplished what was envisioned originally. How sad!

Yeah, not exactly a vacuum, but similar in that it removed air friction.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beach_Pneumatic_Transit

[Mister Uptempo]

The eleven US routes are as follows-

Hyperloop Massachusetts, with a 64-mile route between Boston, Somerset and Providence

Hyperloop Midwest, with a 488-mile route between Chicago, Columbus and Pittsburgh

Hyperloop Missouri, with a 240-mile route between Kansas City and St. Louis

Hyperloop West, with a 121 mile route between Los Angeles and San Diego

Hyperloop Florida, with a 257 mile route between Miami and Orlando

Hyperloop Nevada, with a 454 mile route between Reno and Las Vegas

PNW Hyperloop, with a 173-mile route between Seattle and Portland

Hyperloop Texas, with a 640 mile route in the Texas Triangle

Rocky Mountain Hyperloop Consortium, a 1,152-mile system connecting Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Houston.

Rocky Mountain Hyperloop, a 360-mile route to connect the Denver International Airport to Pueblo, Vail and Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Colorado Hyperloop, a 242-mile route that also connects Wyoming to Pueblo.

info source - denverpost.com