Elon Musk talks about high speed 'Hyperloop'
Elon Musk.(Photo: Asa Mathat | D: All Things Digital)
RANCHO PALOS VERDES, Calif. — Is there a better way to travel quickly from, say, downtown Los Angeles to downtown San Francisco then the high-speed rail that has been proposed, especially since that Bullet train will be the slowest and most expensive in the world? Elon Musk answered his own question at the All Things Digital conference: the "Hyperloop."
You pay attention to the answer because Musk is the brilliant and charismatic mind behind Tesla Motors and SpaceX. As Chris Anderson (of TED conference fame) tweeted: "You can make strong case @elonmusk is world's greatest living entrepreneur and game changer."
So what exactly is the Hyperloop? Apparently, it's not a plane, train or the kind of spacecraft Musk has in mind for traveling to Mars. Instead Musk vaguely described the Hyperloop as a cross between the Concorde, a rail gun and, of all things, an Air Hockey table. Musk hopes to reveal more about the Hyperloop idea late next month, so stay tuned.
MORE: Coverage of the All Things D conference[1]
Among the other highlights to emerge from Musk's engaging discussion:
— It'll take three to five years before Tesla costs $30,000.
— By month's end, the footprint of the Supercharging network for charging electric vehicles faster will triple, making it possible to drive from Los Angeles to New York.
— Mars is a "fixer-up" planet that humans could warm up with Greenhouse gasses — kind of the opposite of what goes on here on the Earth.
— Among the people (living or dead) that Musk admires: Edison, Newton, Einstein, Darwin, Ben Franklin, Steve Jobs and Larry Page.
Meanwhile, having taken the Concorde myself years ago, I'd just as soon board the Hyperloop this afternoon if that were somehow possible, to transport myself from the D11 conference back to the East Coast. I rather doubt my cramped coach seat on United will be quite the "really fun ride" that Musk imagines the Hyperloop to be.