

Elon Musk to outline 'Hyperloop' idea - morphics
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23666173

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rgbrenner
No upvote from me... tired of seeing articles like this. You're too busy to
actually tell us what it is.. but you're not too busy to tweet, debunk others
theories, or give comments teasing people with small details.

I'm worn out.. don't care anymore. You keep it.

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dm2
Agreed about tired of hearing speculation but he has only mentioned it a
handful of times and said he would publish a paper/plans in August of this
year (now).

It's pretty amazing that a vague futuristic concept can generate so much
publicity.

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AlexDanger
Remember how the Segway was going to be bigger than the internet?

That said, I think the hype bubble for the HLoop has a small radius. Very much
concentrated in tech circles. None of my non-tech friends (we fondly refer to
them as normies) have heard about the Hyperloop.

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hobs
Exactly. Even my intelligent but not super nerdy friends had no idea what the
hyperloop was when I mentioned it, Elon is not a name they know, and Tesla
barely rings a bell.

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nonchalance
The finance community, on the other hand, is _very_ aware of Tesla
(NASDAQ:TSLA) and Musk

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johnchristopher
The last paragraph is a downer:

Mr Musk says he is so busy with SpaceX and Tesla that he will not immediately
try to develop Hyperloop himself. Only if no-one else picks up the challenge
will he consider attempting to make it a reality at a later time.

Hyped up article.

I wonder if the idea of such tubes is practical though. It's like a giant hi-
tech metro tube with certainly only one or two stops. That's high maintenance
stuff. More than one thousand km of infrastructure. A plane might be more
expensive but its 100meter long tube is less to take care off.

OTOH today's metro infrastructure is quite huge too if you were to line it up.

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PakG1
You have to consider the total cost of ownership. The exercise goes like this.
What is the total traveling population per year that would get from point A to
point B that would ride planes if not for hyperloop (assuming it becomes
reality). That gives you the number of planes that would be used per year.
Need to consider per year, because a lot of traveling is seasonal. Then what
is the cost to maintain those planes, operating costs like fuel and pilots,
insurance costs for damages and risks, etc, etc.

I have no idea how the total cost of ownership would compare. But I wouldn't
write off hyperloop just because it would be expensive. It may be possible to
make it work. Given how much plane tickets cost, I can easily imagine people
paying more money for something that's seemingly more convenient and safe than
planes.

edit: The man figured out how to turn launching rockets into a profitable
business. The man thinks it's possible to build a nation-wide charging station
network that can charge all the cars his company builds for free. With this
type of thinking, I think he takes cost feasibility seriously, so I'm curious
what he has up his sleeve.

edit2: Maybe what I wrote above maybe sounds too much like hero worship. I'm
not saying he has everything figured out. I'm just saying I'd be very on the
fence and would not bet for him or against him, _but_ most definitely not
against him.

~~~
dm2
There is not wrong with admiring heros, and I personally feel that any
entrepreneur who changes the world and helps humanity as much as Musk has in
just 10 years deserves to be called a hero.

"Let's start a rocket company in effort to ensure the survivability of
humanity." (something that only super-power are currently able to do)

"Let's start an electric car company (and solar panel company) in effort to
reduce the dependency on fossil fuels." (since other car companies are barely
trying)

Then to have the resources and perseverance to actually make these very
difficult goals a reality is outstanding.

Gates is doing something similar with his Thorium reactor research. Hopefully
that will be another game changer.

The Google co-founders have been doing similar projects for the past 10 years.
Even if it does make them tons of money it's still admirable to give awesome
software and hardware to the world at cost or free.

~~~
kingkawn
Gates' work in public health which has actually impacted the lives of people
across the economic spectrum around the world. Musk and the Google Guys have
some work to do before we can say that they've actually changed things for the
better through their philanthropy for humanity as a whole. They have big
plans, but its still a work in progress, and they don't deserve to be called
heroes just for thinking big and spending money on interesting sample runs.

~~~
klintcho
Though still think it's quite unfair to call Tesla and SpaceX "interesting
sample runs".

~~~
kingkawn
Tesla's cars are prohibitively expensive for all but the most monied. As I've
understood it so far SpaceX is a novelty to date that is supported almost
entirely by NASA grants in the hope that it will eventually spur a true space
industry. Both projects carry great potential, truly great potential. You
don't deserve hero status for your potential, but how it is ultimately
realized.

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untog
Get back to me when it's been announced and when someone who knows what they
are talking about has taken a look at it.

(and by "someone who knows what they are talking about" I don't mean
TechCrunch)

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prawn
I wonder how much of Musk stepping slightly back from this is the realistic
notion that he could spread himself too thin and how much is a realisation
that Hyperloop could be less of a home run than first thought? Any tough
proposal will have its critics or become mired in government/environmental
hassle. If it was exceptional, I don't know that it would be released in this
way (after a wait, freely, etc).

I'm also curious, if it is a strong concept, as to who will pick up the ball
and run with it? People talked about electric vehicles and commercial space
exploration for a long, long time before very few people did either as
effectively as Musk has done.

One thing that I think he might've overstated is the ability to show up and
leave without the waits seen at airports due to security. Even the Eurostar
has a security line. Unless baggage was deposited/couriered to a departure
point in advance and passengers showed up later?

If it is all the real deal, Sydney-Melbourne would be a good pairing. Ranks as
the third highest route for passengers flown if Wikipedia is to be believed.

~~~
alexhawdon
Taking the baggage separately is an interesting idea and possible solution to
the security problems.

If the 'Loop is as I'm imagining it (based on scant details, granted) then the
actual vehicle components are small, numerous and frequent. Given the short
transit time it could be reasonably expected that people carry NO luggage
whatsoever and could be quickly processed by a walk through a (potentially
computer-operated) backscatter x-ray machine. Luggage runs could be carried in
separate vehicles, spaced so that if anything were to 'go off' there would be
loss of infrastructure but no loss of life.

~~~
larrydag
Since Musk said that it was a people transportation concept everyone
immediately jumped on that bandwagon. The hyperloop could be a concept that
disrupts the cargo train market. I could see GE taking a look at this concept
with the idea of improved cargo transport.

~~~
marssaxman
What would be the market for transporting cargo at the speed of sound, and why
would anyone able to afford such a service prefer a train to a jet?

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kenshiro_o
I'll just take the wise approach here of "wait and see". Way too much hype
going on.

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kingkawn
"The hype is reminiscent of the pre-launch publicity for the Segway."

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jotm
Man, I'm sad I won't get to fly in a Concorde (or any supersonic by the looks
of it) - 3 hours London to New York sounds pretty awesome...

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rwhitman
Has there ever been this much fanfare and media speculation over the unveiling
of an _idea_ before? The hyperloop is not a product or research, its just an
_idea_.

I can't think of an instance when this has happened in my lifetime. Kind of
bizarre

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saeedjabbar
people are tired of the current transportation systems and its about time we
have something faster

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patrickk
What time are the details due? Anyone know?

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shawabawa3
Today:
[https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/356776740409974785](https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/356776740409974785)

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patrickk
I meant like 5pm EST. I'm aware it's today ;)

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patrickk
BTW, Elon will reveal the details at 1:30 PDT:

[https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/366964441159438337](https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/366964441159438337)

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brianbreslin
I would love to see this announcement today on a livestream. The fanboy in me
is thinking of this like the steve jobs keynotes from a few years back. "Oh
and one more thing, it can bend space time"

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jusben1369
+1 for everything about that Segway image.

