Something along the lines of a hyper loop is the kind of shower thought anyone would have while they're stuck in traffic. "What if we just made super fast tunnels to get us places so I don't have to sit here and deal with this shit right now." Only in this case it was Elon Musk having the thought.

Something like the Alameda Weehawken Burrito tunnel.

http://idlewords.com/2007/04/the_alameda_weehawken_burrito_t...

This article is terrible, it explains the Hyperloop as just an evacuated tunnel, which is not what it is at all.

The Hyperloop uses a low pressure tunnel, that's critical and the system would not work with a vacuum tunnel. The air in the tunnel is blown below the car to provide a low friction interface, much like an air hockey table (but with the puck providing the air, not the table). Linear induction motors in sections of the track accelerate or decelerate the cars, with gliding in between.

This is a new idea, and it's a highly useful idea because the vast majority of the track is just a pressure vessel, while the friction reducing components are fairly low tech and on the pod and the acceleration components are only on small sections of track, and potentially solar powered during peak hours. This lowers the cost of construction enormously while enabling speeds approaching that of commercial air travel.

No the article is good because it accurately describes the winning design, which drops the air hockey for a maglev. Check the MIT site for details.

I don't have a source on hand, but I've seen him say this was pretty much exactly it. Has to go back and forth between LA and the bay twice a week for SpaceX/Tesla, and had the thought for the Hyperloop while sitting in traffic.

I would be astounded if he drives that commute. I used to do the same commute two to three times a week and 35 minutes in the air beats 5 hours on the road hands down. If you're smart about it and flexible in your schedule you can shrink the airport time to around 20 minutes.

I could go door to door from my house in Santa Clara to my office in Burbank in about an hour.

Is that with a private jet or something? The commercial flights between even SFO and LAX seem to take over an hour of flight time alone. Which isn't surprising, since it's 300 miles to cover.

No, just Southwest. At the time they'd run a flight every hour between SJC -> BUR and after a while it became really easy to gauge exactly when I could show up and hop onto the next flight out. Cut it too close and miss a flight? They'll just put me on the next one. No big deal. The smaller airports help enormously in getting in and out fast -- I could walk into SJC and be on a flight in a matter of minutes. SFO and LAX are gigantic time sinks.

Though in Musk's case I imagine he can do the private jet thing and have the plane wait for him.

Yeah, SJC and BUR seem way better for airport time, I'm just surprised they run a 35-minute flight. I'd have assumed SFO and LAX get faster airplanes. Maybe half the time is lost to taxiing?

Yes. Most (or almost) most of the commercial flight time is spent at not cruising altitude and speed - I've taken longer to get to the airport than the flight, and then once you're there there's security (although Burbank is usually a breeze), passenger loading, taxiing, take-off and climb...

Then just enough time for a drink service and you head back down, to do it all over again in reverse.

He flies.

Here is the source: https://vimeo.com/153916885#t=240s

more videos about the event: http://hyperloop.tamu.edu/media-kit/

> Only in this case it was Elon Musk having the thought.

The hyperloop concept has been around at least since George Medhurst wrote about it in 1812.

As for the detailed design , i think ET3 had patents on that, since 1999.

I think that's very unfair. When it was announced, a team had been working on the practicalities and included detailed diagrams and calculations.

Yes, he had the team at his disposal, but it didn't just gain attention because he has a recognisable name.

I didn't read that as name recognition, but rather that Elon Musk is one of the few people with both the resources and the drive to turn ridiculous shower thoughts into real projects. If it was Bill Gates, he'd just dismiss it as silly and get back to wiping out malaria or whatever, and if it was me then I wouldn't be able to make it go anywhere.

If I had a boatload of money, I'd make an electric car, but like, make it awesome. Give it like a really big battery so it can go really far, and make it like a proper car. Oh no we're out of towels

> Anyone else suspect Hyperloop is a transport technology destined for use off-planet where it wouldn't be plausible to pave roads everywhere, where there isn't sufficient atmosphere to support flight nor oceans to float boats?

If it's not plausible to pave, why would it be plausible to build an elevated, evacuated tube on stilts?

> Evacuating the tubes would be far easier on the moon or on Mars.

But probably not easier than just driving off-road, as we've already done https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Roving_Vehicle

During design weekend someone asked the question, if Hyperloop could be used on other planets like Mars, to Elon Musk. He dismissed the idea, saying the atmosphere on the planet was already low enough that you didn't need a depressurized tube since that would just increase costs.

That's not really a dismissal, though, is it? Is Hyperloop easier to design for off-world use (?)

You're right. The concept is easier in off-world use where the atmospheric pressure is lower since that brings down the costs of the tube construction and pressurization.

edit: rewording

The atmospheric pressure is so low that you don't need a tube at all (<1% of Earth). And you'll have to use wheels instead of hovering because you can't suck in enough air to eject out the bottom. At that point, you no longer have a Hyperloop, you have a car (or train).

Except that it would cost much more to build even a shed on the moon due to all the other factors involved in building something off planet.

If built on the moon or Mars it wouldn't need the tube, since the winning design uses magnetic levitation.

Since the tubes are only partially evacuated, rather than being at full vacuum, it's not super hard to do it on Earth.

Futurama did it.

Cool thought, but why use tubes at all, then?

Maybe to keep dust and dirt out of sensitive machinery.