Elon Musk's vision for an entirely new form of transportation will be revealed to the world on August 12th. The founder of SpaceX and Tesla Motors tweeted this morning that he would "publish Hyperloop alpha design by Aug 12," and added "critical feedback for improvements would be much appreciated." Musk has previously revealed just a few tantalizing details for the Hyperloop, which he's described as a "fifth form" of transportation the first four being planes, trains, automobiles and boats.
http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/15/4524726/elon-musk-will-reveal-plans-for-hyperloop-august-12th
This system I have in mind, [...] how would you like something that can never crash, is immune to weather, it goes 3 or 4 times faster than the [...] bullet train [...], it goes about an average speed of twice what an aircraft would do. You would go from downtown LA to downtown San Francisco in under 30 minutes. And it would cost you much less than an air ticket or car, much less than any other mode of transport, because the fundamental energy cost is so much lower. And I think we could actually make it self-powering if you put solar panels on it, [...] you generate more power than you would consume in the system. There's a way to store the power so it would run 24/7 without using batteries. [...] Yes, [this is possible,] absolutely.
Elon Musk, July 12, 2012
"What you want is something that never crashes, that's at least twice as fast as a plane, that's solar powered and that leaves right when you arrive, so there is no waiting for a specific departure time," Musk says. His friends claim he's had a Hyperloop technological breakthrough over the summer. "I'd like to talk to the governor and president about it," Musk continues. "Because the $60 billion bullet train they're proposing in California would be the slowest bullet train in the world at the highest cost per mile. They're going for records in all the wrong ways." The cost of the SF-LA Hyperloop would be in the $6 billion range, he says.
Bloomberg, September 13, 2012
I tend to think Musk is a massive dickhead, but will begrudgingly accept that he's leading the way for electric cars with Tesla. That said, Hyperloop sounds far more revolutionary. If he delivers even only half of what he's promising, the world as we know it is going to change.