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FTA - "The technology was never really meant to go anywhere." What an excellent pun! Meanwhile, out here in the real world, we know it costs 5x more, on avera

FTA - "The technology was never really meant to go anywhere." What an excellent pun! Meanwhile, out here in the real world, we know it costs 5x more, on average, to build passenger trains underground than above ground. Hyperloop was always a means for developing mining technologies - specifically, lithium mining. That sounds boring (see what I did there?!) so you frame the discussion as passenger transport to lure in investors. Technology was developed, knowledge was learned, investors were duped, and we move on.

Aurornis 3y ago
> Hyperloop was always a means for developing mining technologies - specifically, lithium mining. That sounds boring (see what I did there?!) I think you're thinking about "The Boring Company" which is entirely separate from Hyperloop One. Hyperloop was always a transportation fantasy. They didn't even hire people with civil engineering or mining experience, as some early employees are starting to explain on Twitter now that the company is gone. > Technology was developed, knowledge was learned, investors were duped, and we move on. Again, I think you're confusing different companies. Hyperloop specifically worked on transportation, not mining/digging/tunneling. The Boring Company is the Elon Company supposedly targeted at digging tunnels.
kolinko 3y ago
What? Hyperloop is supposed to be above the ground, not below
- mcny 3y ago
  You're making assumptions here. As far as I know there is no requirement that hyperloop has to be above ground. While I imagine it would reduce cost to build one at ground level, I think it makes sense to go underground or high up on pillars at least where it intersects roads, rivers, or things like that. Also there's boring company that seems to fit perfectly with hyperloop.
  - theptip 3y ago
    The original designs had the hyperloop above ground. The later ”loop” (no hyper, drive a car onto a skate that then shunts around under the city) were underground; there might have been an early iteration of that urban design that contemplated vacuum though. Of course you _can_ go underground but that doesn’t make sense economically for long-range (nobody is digging a tunnel SF-LA). And the hyper bit (vacuum pump and acceleration at each stop) makes less sense for short-range transport in urban environments.
  - notahacker 3y ago
    > You're making assumptions here. As far as I know there is no requirement that hyperloop has to be above ground. I don't think reading a proposal to build a tube on pylons which it stated would mostly be located on highway medians to [theoretically] be cheaper than an intercity rail line and concluding it isn't intended to generate demand for a later startup developing tools to drill through rock is making a particularly wild assumption, especially not compared with taking the opposite position...
  - kolinko 3y ago
    Did you read the original proposal?
dmix 3y ago
This is an oversimplification like saying the Iraq war was just about oil. Competing interests with one offering a clearer economic gain doesn’t mean it’s the only motivation. Elon getting annoyed at traffic in LA and then trying to figure out some fantastical solution, like a kid daydreaming while he sits in a Tesla doing 5km/hr, then later adding mining to help make it more practical as an IRL R&D project sounds more likely.
fallingknife 3y ago
But lithium mining tech sounds way more appealing as an investment than passenger rail

Aurornis 3y ago

> Hyperloop was always a means for developing mining technologies - specifically, lithium mining. That sounds boring (see what I did there?!) I think you're thinking about "The Boring Company" which is entirely separate from Hyperloop One. Hyperloop was always a transportation fantasy. They didn't even hire people with civil engineering or mining experience, as some early employees are starting to explain on Twitter now that the company is gone. > Technology was developed, knowledge was learned, investors were duped, and we move on. Again, I think you're confusing different companies. Hyperloop specifically worked on transportation, not mining/digging/tunneling. The Boring Company is the Elon Company supposedly targeted at digging tunnels.

kolinko 3y ago

What? Hyperloop is supposed to be above the ground, not below

mcny 3y ago
You're making assumptions here. As far as I know there is no requirement that hyperloop has to be above ground. While I imagine it would reduce cost to build one at ground level, I think it makes sense to go underground or high up on pillars at least where it intersects roads, rivers, or things like that. Also there's boring company that seems to fit perfectly with hyperloop.
- theptip 3y ago
  The original designs had the hyperloop above ground. The later ”loop” (no hyper, drive a car onto a skate that then shunts around under the city) were underground; there might have been an early iteration of that urban design that contemplated vacuum though. Of course you _can_ go underground but that doesn’t make sense economically for long-range (nobody is digging a tunnel SF-LA). And the hyper bit (vacuum pump and acceleration at each stop) makes less sense for short-range transport in urban environments.
- notahacker 3y ago
  > You're making assumptions here. As far as I know there is no requirement that hyperloop has to be above ground. I don't think reading a proposal to build a tube on pylons which it stated would mostly be located on highway medians to [theoretically] be cheaper than an intercity rail line and concluding it isn't intended to generate demand for a later startup developing tools to drill through rock is making a particularly wild assumption, especially not compared with taking the opposite position...
- kolinko 3y ago
  Did you read the original proposal?

dmix 3y ago

This is an oversimplification like saying the Iraq war was just about oil. Competing interests with one offering a clearer economic gain doesn’t mean it’s the only motivation. Elon getting annoyed at traffic in LA and then trying to figure out some fantastical solution, like a kid daydreaming while he sits in a Tesla doing 5km/hr, then later adding mining to help make it more practical as an IRL R&D project sounds more likely.

fallingknife 3y ago

But lithium mining tech sounds way more appealing as an investment than passenger rail