4 ms·

Startup wants you to fund Hyperloop, and help design it too

36 points by ph0rque 13y ago

MrBuddyCasino 13y ago
I like the idea, but have my doubts that 'design by commitee' is going to work better here than it usually does. Also, the required funding is enormous - not sure if they mean financing the whole project? That would be outside anything JumpStartFund / Kickstarter / whatever could collect.
- retube 13y ago
  Well you'd initially fund a scaled-down prototype, not try to build the whole thing immediately from scratch.
- danielweber 13y ago
  Having a bunch of people working on a prototype, with responsibility spread over all of them, seems a good way to have the prototype fail. Musk is busy and can't help, but you need someone like a Musk who has the attention and energy to be in charge and make sure you have useful goals and you are moving towards them.
simonebrunozzi 13y ago
I think this is a good thing. Let me explain. 1) You can think that there are hundreds of OTHER things worth pursuing, instead of spending time on a project that is very hard to complete, expensive, and benefits (initially) only a small fraction of the world's population. Myself, I'd rather improve public trasportation in both SF and LA, instead of focusing on the Hyperloop. But there are people willing to spend some time to tinker with the idea. Let them do it. 2) They might not be successful, but they are sparking a discussion on transportation, technology, and government. Having a discussion is healthy, and needed. Good luck!
- wavesounds 13y ago
  It's more important then that. Hyperloop is our best bet to stop California from wasting 60 to 100 Billion (60,000-100,000 Million) dollars on a "High Speed" train that is going to be the 2nd slowest in the world.
  - melling 13y ago
    It's so costly because the land in California is so expensive. The Hyperloop is going to avoid much of this by taking an indirect route and making up for it with the extra speed. Wait other couple of decades and you'll have more people to move out of the way of the Hyperloop too. Maybe we should have a little better urban planning and start preparing for low-speed and high-speed maglevs now?
    - clarky07 13y ago
      That's not actually true. Last estimates I saw said that the right of way was only costing a few (1-3 i think) billion of the total cost.
      - melling 13y ago
        One of Elon's criticisms was that the CA HSR would need to acquire 1100 parcels of land. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/15/could-the-hyperloop-really-cost-6-billion-critics-say-no/ http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/15/could-the-hyperloop... Can you post where you got your numbers?
        clarky07 13y ago
        I'd love to but after quite a bit of searching I can't find them. I did see that Musk quoted 1 bil for right of way on the hyperloop, so my numbers must be off some. I'm pretty sure it still isn't the majority of the cost by any stretch. perhaps 10 bil out of the 70 proposed. If i find the article I'll update this post.
    - 13y ago
logicallee 13y ago
There are 9 million millionaires in America. If each of them commmitted just $67,000 it would exceed Musk's budget...by a factor of 100! iow each millionaire would have to commit just $670. Wow. We need a kickstarter for millionaires, and oh btw everyone could join even without being a millionaire. And it could be open world-wide. Why not do this? It seems somehow more reasonable than a $6B Indiegogo project.... (Which would be hilarious.)
- svmegatron 13y ago
  Kickstarter for millionaires, but you don't have to be a millionaire. I think that's what kickstarter already is.
- danielweber 13y ago
  There are an infinite number of things that could be super-awesome if only everyone just donated $X to them.
- tehwalrus 13y ago
  Umm... If you have a way to get 9 million people to agree on something, why aren't you president of a small European country yet? Also, if you think it's easy to get $6,700 out of a millionaire, perhaps you aren't understanding why they're millionaires.
  - danielweber 13y ago
    But think of all the cool tings I could do if they just gave me their money.
  - logicallee 13y ago
    Oh, man, President of a small European country! Think of all the fun I could have micromanaging infrastructural decisions, educational expenditures of a developing economy, etc. It's like a Sim game, only it's all day every day for years. Why would I want to do this again?
- smacktoward 13y ago
jdmitch 13y ago
to vote for the hyperloop on jumpstartfund, go to http://www.jumpstartfund.com/index.php/hyperloop.html http://www.jumpstartfund.com/index.php/hyperloop.html
harimau 13y ago
The HSR is a boondoggle in its current state because of politics and land value in this state. Hyperloop will run into similar problems w/ NIMBYs, local governments, etc. Whereas Hyperloop can transport only 7.4 million people a year, HSR has the potential to transport 117 million. The Hyperloop is a neat concept and it's great that there's greater discussion on transportation issues but it won't solve the major outstanding issues with bringing quality mass-transit to California, and the US in general, which is people and political will.
- alcari 13y ago
  How many of those 117 million people will HSR be transporting from LA to SF?

36 points by ph0rque 13y ago

I like the idea, but have my doubts that 'design by commitee' is going to work better here than it usually does. Also, the required funding is enormous - not sure if they mean financing the whole project? That would be outside anything JumpStartFund / Kickstarter / whatever could collect.

retube 13y ago
Well you'd initially fund a scaled-down prototype, not try to build the whole thing immediately from scratch.
danielweber 13y ago
Having a bunch of people working on a prototype, with responsibility spread over all of them, seems a good way to have the prototype fail. Musk is busy and can't help, but you need someone like a Musk who has the attention and energy to be in charge and make sure you have useful goals and you are moving towards them.

simonebrunozzi 13y ago

I think this is a good thing. Let me explain. 1) You can think that there are hundreds of OTHER things worth pursuing, instead of spending time on a project that is very hard to complete, expensive, and benefits (initially) only a small fraction of the world's population. Myself, I'd rather improve public trasportation in both SF and LA, instead of focusing on the Hyperloop. But there are people willing to spend some time to tinker with the idea. Let them do it. 2) They might not be successful, but they are sparking a discussion on transportation, technology, and government. Having a discussion is healthy, and needed. Good luck!

wavesounds 13y ago
It's more important then that. Hyperloop is our best bet to stop California from wasting 60 to 100 Billion (60,000-100,000 Million) dollars on a "High Speed" train that is going to be the 2nd slowest in the world.
- melling 13y ago
  It's so costly because the land in California is so expensive. The Hyperloop is going to avoid much of this by taking an indirect route and making up for it with the extra speed. Wait other couple of decades and you'll have more people to move out of the way of the Hyperloop too. Maybe we should have a little better urban planning and start preparing for low-speed and high-speed maglevs now?
  - clarky07 13y ago
    That's not actually true. Last estimates I saw said that the right of way was only costing a few (1-3 i think) billion of the total cost.
    - melling 13y ago
      One of Elon's criticisms was that the CA HSR would need to acquire 1100 parcels of land. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/15/could-the-hyperloop-really-cost-6-billion-critics-say-no/ http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/15/could-the-hyperloop... Can you post where you got your numbers?
      - clarky07 13y ago
        I'd love to but after quite a bit of searching I can't find them. I did see that Musk quoted 1 bil for right of way on the hyperloop, so my numbers must be off some. I'm pretty sure it still isn't the majority of the cost by any stretch. perhaps 10 bil out of the 70 proposed. If i find the article I'll update this post.
  - 13y ago

logicallee 13y ago

There are 9 million millionaires in America. If each of them commmitted just $67,000 it would exceed Musk's budget...by a factor of 100! iow each millionaire would have to commit just $670. Wow. We need a kickstarter for millionaires, and oh btw everyone could join even without being a millionaire. And it could be open world-wide. Why not do this? It seems somehow more reasonable than a $6B Indiegogo project.... (Which would be hilarious.)

svmegatron 13y ago
Kickstarter for millionaires, but you don't have to be a millionaire. I think that's what kickstarter already is.
danielweber 13y ago
There are an infinite number of things that could be super-awesome if only everyone just donated $X to them.
tehwalrus 13y ago
Umm... If you have a way to get 9 million people to agree on something, why aren't you president of a small European country yet? Also, if you think it's easy to get $6,700 out of a millionaire, perhaps you aren't understanding why they're millionaires.
- danielweber 13y ago
  But think of all the cool tings I could do if they just gave me their money.
- logicallee 13y ago
  Oh, man, President of a small European country! Think of all the fun I could have micromanaging infrastructural decisions, educational expenditures of a developing economy, etc. It's like a Sim game, only it's all day every day for years. Why would I want to do this again?
smacktoward 13y ago

jdmitch 13y ago

to vote for the hyperloop on jumpstartfund, go to http://www.jumpstartfund.com/index.php/hyperloop.html http://www.jumpstartfund.com/index.php/hyperloop.html

harimau 13y ago

The HSR is a boondoggle in its current state because of politics and land value in this state. Hyperloop will run into similar problems w/ NIMBYs, local governments, etc. Whereas Hyperloop can transport only 7.4 million people a year, HSR has the potential to transport 117 million. The Hyperloop is a neat concept and it's great that there's greater discussion on transportation issues but it won't solve the major outstanding issues with bringing quality mass-transit to California, and the US in general, which is people and political will.

alcari 13y ago
How many of those 117 million people will HSR be transporting from LA to SF?