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Read it as Pipes of Fantasy. Years ago I remember reading about miles long test tracks being built. I haven't been following developments surrounding this at a

Read it as Pipes of Fantasy. Years ago I remember reading about miles long test tracks being built. I haven't been following developments surrounding this at all, but as far as I can tell there are still no serious test tracks, why? The ones that are out there are supposedly too short to get to full speed (or anywhere close to it!). Given the hype surrounding it I have a hard time believing money is the limiting factor here. Sounds to me like the tech just isn't there and won't be anytime soon. And having a full test track would simply kill the deal flow. EDIT: so just to make sure I'm not misremembering anything, here's a story from 2015 https://www.theverge.com/2015/12/8/9873014/hyperloop-technologies-elon-musk-las-vegas-land-purchase https://www.theverge.com/2015/12/8/9873014/hyperloop-technol... "The near-term goal is to construct a 3-kilometer test track to conduct a full-speed prototype." And it appears to me that what was supposed to be this 3km test track is a 500m Virgin Hyperloop test track today at the same location with some of the same people involved. So they might have land secured for the original length already. "That startup has plans to build an 8-kilometer in Quay Valley" "he expects to conduct the first test with live passengers in 32 months"

jccooper 6y ago
Elon seems to have moved on to non-vaccuum underground tunnels via The Boring Company, which is actually doing real projects. Though apparently there are still Hyperloop competitions planned. The 2020 one was supposed to be "in a 10km vacuum tunnel with a curve", though that may be stalled by, well, obvious current events. https://tunnelinsider.com/the-2020-hyperloop-competition-will-be-in-a-six-mile-curved-tunnel/ https://tunnelinsider.com/the-2020-hyperloop-competition-wil... No one else seems to have quite the combination of money and crazy to go much further with Hyperloop.
- halfFact 6y ago
  Regular slow rail and siphoning tax dollars? Sounds like an Elon company.
  - DarmokJalad1701 6y ago
    Username checks out.
  - mav3rick 6y ago
    Won at electric, won at space, won at paypal. Salty comment ? Sounds like a HN comment
    - kevingadd 6y ago
      Are you asserting the space and electric ventures were not funded by taxpayers?
      - nickik 6y ago
        They were actually not. And in the cases tax payer funding was involved it was not some sort of blank check. SpaceX got to orbit and was financed privately. Only once SpaceX had proven that capability, they were selected by the government to deliver cargo to ISS. SpaceX had to submit a competitive bid and was selected because they were the cheapest. SpaceX has fully executed on this contract and it was by far cheaper then any other transport to ISS service, including Russian, European, Japanese and US competition (Orbital ATK). During its whole live, government contracts were never more then half SpaceX contracts and SpaceX was and is a viable buissness without government contracts. The main financing for SpaceX has been privately raised money. NASA was a helpful costumer to SpaceX and helped it grow faster but calling that 'taxpayer funded' is a waste overstatement. Tesla equally was privately funded and operate like that for much of its early history. The DoE loan only started rolling in by 2010 and helped them fund Model S. This loan was fully payed back with interest. Again, the majority of funding threw-out Tesla history is privately raised, including Roadster, Model X, Model 3, Model Y programs. Its important to not that GM, Ford and Fiat-Chrysler received far, far, far more resources in the 2008-2012 timeframe and most of that has unlike Tesla not been payed back. GM of course had to be saved totally by the government. Calling Tesla 'taxpayers funded' is just complete nonsense.
        6y ago
- grishka 6y ago
  > Elon seems to have moved on to non-vaccuum underground tunnels via The Boring Company So, a subway?
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - nickik 6y ago
    Just like an EV is a car.
  - thescriptkiddie 6y ago
    But with cars. No, I'm not making this up. https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1285819565407002624 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1285819565407002624
    - stingraycharles 6y ago
      But... that’s just like shuttle taxis on the airport. Except underground. Guess boring technology triumphs again.
    - nickik 6y ago
      Its almost like using mass produced cars in simple tunnels are cheaper then low volume subway systems.
    - ashtonkem 6y ago
      This seems worse than a subway in pretty much every metric, unless if you happen to be same person who's selling the cars that it's compatible with.
      - TigeriusKirk 6y ago
        There are a number of metrics where it's clearly better. Scheduling and routing. Not waiting 10-30 minutes for the next train depending on time of day. Not stopping anywhere but your destination. No connections or changeovers. Personal space. Privacy, safety. Regardless of how you personally feel about this factor, it matters enough to some people to significantly impact usage. Those factors may or may not be enough to warrant changing the systems, but they certainly are metrics by which Musk's systems are better.
- jryle70 6y ago
  > Elon seems to have moved on to non-vaccuum underground tunnels via The Boring Company, which is actually doing real projects. The Boring Company has never planned to build Hyperloop. They are about lowering cost and time of digging tunnels. Musk proposed Hyperloop but he said he'd leave implementation to others, so he hasn't moved on to anything.

jccooper 6y ago

Elon seems to have moved on to non-vaccuum underground tunnels via The Boring Company, which is actually doing real projects. Though apparently there are still Hyperloop competitions planned. The 2020 one was supposed to be "in a 10km vacuum tunnel with a curve", though that may be stalled by, well, obvious current events. https://tunnelinsider.com/the-2020-hyperloop-competition-will-be-in-a-six-mile-curved-tunnel/ https://tunnelinsider.com/the-2020-hyperloop-competition-wil... No one else seems to have quite the combination of money and crazy to go much further with Hyperloop.

halfFact 6y ago
Regular slow rail and siphoning tax dollars? Sounds like an Elon company.
- DarmokJalad1701 6y ago
  Username checks out.
- mav3rick 6y ago
  Won at electric, won at space, won at paypal. Salty comment ? Sounds like a HN comment
  - kevingadd 6y ago
    Are you asserting the space and electric ventures were not funded by taxpayers?
    - nickik 6y ago
      They were actually not. And in the cases tax payer funding was involved it was not some sort of blank check. SpaceX got to orbit and was financed privately. Only once SpaceX had proven that capability, they were selected by the government to deliver cargo to ISS. SpaceX had to submit a competitive bid and was selected because they were the cheapest. SpaceX has fully executed on this contract and it was by far cheaper then any other transport to ISS service, including Russian, European, Japanese and US competition (Orbital ATK). During its whole live, government contracts were never more then half SpaceX contracts and SpaceX was and is a viable buissness without government contracts. The main financing for SpaceX has been privately raised money. NASA was a helpful costumer to SpaceX and helped it grow faster but calling that 'taxpayer funded' is a waste overstatement. Tesla equally was privately funded and operate like that for much of its early history. The DoE loan only started rolling in by 2010 and helped them fund Model S. This loan was fully payed back with interest. Again, the majority of funding threw-out Tesla history is privately raised, including Roadster, Model X, Model 3, Model Y programs. Its important to not that GM, Ford and Fiat-Chrysler received far, far, far more resources in the 2008-2012 timeframe and most of that has unlike Tesla not been payed back. GM of course had to be saved totally by the government. Calling Tesla 'taxpayers funded' is just complete nonsense.
      - 6y ago
grishka 6y ago
> Elon seems to have moved on to non-vaccuum underground tunnels via The Boring Company So, a subway?
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- nickik 6y ago
  Just like an EV is a car.
- thescriptkiddie 6y ago
  But with cars. No, I'm not making this up. https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1285819565407002624 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1285819565407002624
  - stingraycharles 6y ago
    But... that’s just like shuttle taxis on the airport. Except underground. Guess boring technology triumphs again.
  - nickik 6y ago
    Its almost like using mass produced cars in simple tunnels are cheaper then low volume subway systems.
  - ashtonkem 6y ago
    This seems worse than a subway in pretty much every metric, unless if you happen to be same person who's selling the cars that it's compatible with.
    - TigeriusKirk 6y ago
      There are a number of metrics where it's clearly better. Scheduling and routing. Not waiting 10-30 minutes for the next train depending on time of day. Not stopping anywhere but your destination. No connections or changeovers. Personal space. Privacy, safety. Regardless of how you personally feel about this factor, it matters enough to some people to significantly impact usage. Those factors may or may not be enough to warrant changing the systems, but they certainly are metrics by which Musk's systems are better.
jryle70 6y ago
> Elon seems to have moved on to non-vaccuum underground tunnels via The Boring Company, which is actually doing real projects. The Boring Company has never planned to build Hyperloop. They are about lowering cost and time of digging tunnels. Musk proposed Hyperloop but he said he'd leave implementation to others, so he hasn't moved on to anything.