Since the commercialization of airplane travel, the world has become a
lot smaller. In the U.S. in particular, this has allowed people to
actually commute to work from different parts of the country. But after
decades of technological advances, the time and increasingly complicated
process of air travel now seems somehow behind the times. Elon Musk, the man behind the Tesla and SpaceX
has come forward to announce that the plans for his next generation
high-speed transportation system, supposedly mixing magnetic levitation
with vacuum tube propulsion, are finally ready to be unveiled.
Last year, Musk promised to reveal his idea for the high speed network sometime in August, saying the system would allow a passenger to, "go from downtown LA to downtown San Francisco in under 30 minutes. It would cost you much less than an air ticket than any other mode of transport." But after all the excitement generated around the idea, Musk failed to produce the plans as promised, and the public's focus on Musk returned to his work on electric cars and space travel.
But something interesting happened in the last couple of weeks. New talk of a similar kind of system gained traction, and a good deal of excitement from the tech community, after an article on a company called ET3 (Evacuated Tube Transport Technologies) was widely circulated. ET3 claims to be working to introduce a system that would transport people in car-sized capsules traveling 4,000 miles per hour internationally, and 350 miles per hour domestically, making it possible to get from New York to L.A. in 45 minutes, and Washington, D.C. to Beijing, China in just two hours.
To consider how revolutionary this could be, just think about all the workers who currently live in places like Philadelphia and Connecticut who currently make the 1.5-2 hour commute to New York City on a daily basis. Using this as a barometer of acceptable commute times, that means that the idea of working in Silicon Valley and living in Miami could become a realistic possibility.
And while we still don't know how similar or dissimilar Musk's idea is compared to the proposal from ET3, it's likely that Musk now understands that if he wants credit for introducing a Hyperloop-style system, the time is now. To that end, Musk announced today on Twitter that detailed plans for his Hyperloop system will be revealed on August 12, the first time he's actually committed to a date regarding the project. Musk tweeted:
The announcement quickly generated a good deal of excitement, and questions on Twitter. Responding to a question about patenting the system, Musk tweeted:
And in regards to commercializing the system, Musk tweeted:
Musk also mentioned that making the system safe for earthquake-prone areas like California will be "a critical design driver." So whoever gets this kind of system to the public first is now down to funding and execution, areas in which Musk has a distinct advantage. While you're waiting the four weeks for Musk to introduce his vision of the future of transport, you can check out a presentation from ET3 that explains exactly how its evacuated tube transport system could work in the video below. VIDEO
Via Elon Musk
Last year, Musk promised to reveal his idea for the high speed network sometime in August, saying the system would allow a passenger to, "go from downtown LA to downtown San Francisco in under 30 minutes. It would cost you much less than an air ticket than any other mode of transport." But after all the excitement generated around the idea, Musk failed to produce the plans as promised, and the public's focus on Musk returned to his work on electric cars and space travel.
But something interesting happened in the last couple of weeks. New talk of a similar kind of system gained traction, and a good deal of excitement from the tech community, after an article on a company called ET3 (Evacuated Tube Transport Technologies) was widely circulated. ET3 claims to be working to introduce a system that would transport people in car-sized capsules traveling 4,000 miles per hour internationally, and 350 miles per hour domestically, making it possible to get from New York to L.A. in 45 minutes, and Washington, D.C. to Beijing, China in just two hours.
To consider how revolutionary this could be, just think about all the workers who currently live in places like Philadelphia and Connecticut who currently make the 1.5-2 hour commute to New York City on a daily basis. Using this as a barometer of acceptable commute times, that means that the idea of working in Silicon Valley and living in Miami could become a realistic possibility.
And while we still don't know how similar or dissimilar Musk's idea is compared to the proposal from ET3, it's likely that Musk now understands that if he wants credit for introducing a Hyperloop-style system, the time is now. To that end, Musk announced today on Twitter that detailed plans for his Hyperloop system will be revealed on August 12, the first time he's actually committed to a date regarding the project. Musk tweeted:
The announcement quickly generated a good deal of excitement, and questions on Twitter. Responding to a question about patenting the system, Musk tweeted:
And in regards to commercializing the system, Musk tweeted:
Musk also mentioned that making the system safe for earthquake-prone areas like California will be "a critical design driver." So whoever gets this kind of system to the public first is now down to funding and execution, areas in which Musk has a distinct advantage. While you're waiting the four weeks for Musk to introduce his vision of the future of transport, you can check out a presentation from ET3 that explains exactly how its evacuated tube transport system could work in the video below. VIDEO
Via Elon Musk
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