Elon Musk has obliquely compared himself to Henry Ford. But if he keeps going, a better comparison could be Thomas Edison. The inventor and serial entrepreneur already has his hands in state-of-the-art electric cars, space travel—and now perhaps a travel innovation for those of us looking to keep our feet planted on Earth.
His latest fascination is what he calls a "Hyperloop" transportation system that could, he says,whisk passengers between San Francisco and Los Angeles in a mere half-hour or less. Musk conjectures that it would cost less than $6 billion in total and could transport 7.4 million people each way each year. But it would take up to a decade to complete. Musk laid out all of the details in a 57-page technical paper and invited feedback.
Why is Musk even bothering? The PayPal co-founder has plenty going on with two actually functioning enterprises that he founded, SpaceX and Tesla. In fact, he was just awarded $4.3 million in stock-based pay for his ongoing work on Tesla's next nameplate, the Model X all-electric SUV. He completed vehicle and engineering prototypes and even the first production unit of the new model.
But Musk said "I've come around a little bit on my thinking" about the Hyperloop, which he initially said he would let someone else develop and build. He has described the system as a cross between a Concorde, a rail gun and an air-hockey table that would shoot as many as 28 passengers in each enclosed capsule through a low-pressure steel tube at up to 800 miles an hour. The capsules would ride a cushion of air blasted from "skis" beneath and be propelled by a magnetic linear accelerator.
"Maybe I could do the beginning bit .. and then hand it over to somebody else," Musk allowed on Monday, according to Reuters.
It's hard to blame Musk for believing that his role in Hyperloop could be crucial. His magic touch has helped make Tesla the notable success in EVs so far, and there appear to be no big glitches in his plan to have SpaceX vessels begin transporting people to the inner reaches of outer space sometime next year.
However, since Musk asked for feedback on his Hyperloop treatise, he got some, quickly—and itwasn't all good. Sam Jaffe, writing on the Navigant Research blog, for example, saw some huge hurdles, including the generation of "an enormous amount of heat" by the air pressured in the Hyperloop tube.
Musk surely will answer. After all, he's not known to back away from an idea he believes is a winner—which, if it indeed works out, will be a win-win for mankind, too.
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