only be travelling in one direction. “It would have less lateral acceleration—which is what tends to make people feel motion sick. Unlike an airplane, it is not subject to turbulence, so there are no sudden movements. It would feel super smooth.” Before you go thinking that the Hyperloop will be the mode of transport that replaces everything else it is only designed to link cities less than 1000 miles apart that have high amounts of traffic between them as is the case with L.A and San Francisco. Any further and it becomes cheaper and easier to simply fly between the destinations. In terms of overall costs Musk estimates that the loop for people-only pods could be built for $6 billion and one carrying people and cars would cost $10 billion. It’s an expensive price tag but comes in at a tenth the cost of California’s highspeed railway and would travel four times as fast. While the plans certainly open a door of possibilities for the future of transport for now all that exists of the Hyperloop are drawings and calculations. “I’m just putting this out there as an open source design. There are sure to be suggestions out there for making this better, correcting any mistakes, and refining the design,” says Musk. The billionaire may have the funds to put this plan into motion but his roles in charge of Tesla and SpaceX mean he cannot commit to the project full-time. Whether someone else steps in and makes the Hyperloop a reality is anyone’s guess. For now though it’s just a bunch of hype.
“
“
Safer, faster, lower cost, more convenient, immune to weather, sustainably selfpowering