UPDATE: Check out Elon Musk’s initial plan and proposal to develop Hyperloop right here

The internet has everyone begging, what is Hyperloop? Over the weekend the world wide web has heard the rumblings of Tesla Motors founder Elon Musk’s plans for Hyperloop, a high-speed transit system reminiscent in size and expansiveness to railroad tracks crisscrossing the country and in sheer speed to airline travel. Even more exciting than the idea of a completely new form of large scale transportation is that Elon Musk, the designer of Hyperloop and founder of electronic automobile maker Tesla Motors, is expected to reveal his plans this afternoon.

Musk is no newbie when it comes to inventions and entrepreneurship as he’s also currently invovled with SpaceX, a company dedicated to creating rockets, as well has having been a co-founder in the groundbreaking electronic payment solution PayPal. And while Musk is surely dedicated to all of his projects, Hyperloop may have to wait on the back burner for someone else willing to take up the cause.

Musk told TIME magazine, “I think I kind of shot myself by ever mentioning the Hyperloop. I don’t have any plans to execute, because I must remain focused on SpaceX and Tesla.”

So what exactly is this new means of taking oneself from point A to point B where its own designer doesn’t have the time to work on it? According to Gizmodo, the $68 billion Hyperloop could potentially use magnetic-driven ‘pods’ reaching speeds averaging up to 700mph, rendering a trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco a mere 30 minutes long “at a tenth of the cost of the existing high speed rail proposal. Or so he claims.”

Though he has yet to post his schematics online or really describe in any detail whatsoever what his vision is, he quipped on Twitter back in mid-July that the above blueprint for a Hyperloop-like transit system above is the closest accurate depiction thus far:


But really, the entire system can be compared to the similarly used vaccuum-powered tubes employed by the likes of postal services and drive-through banks.

The only foreseeable obstacles standing in Hyperloops way, aside from the monstrous price tag hanging around its neck, are tunnels. As noted in a previous article, “A vehicle traveling at 550 mph cannot undergo sharp turns” so naturally to bypass any sort of roadblock, mountain, river, volcano, or what have you, the Hyperloop would have to reside underground. And if the idea were to spread, the only way for one to reach, say, New York from Los Angeles the only viable solution would be to travel in a straight line under the surface of the Earth, an expense that would make Musk’s estimated $68 billion look like the contents of the spare change jar on my bureau.

But at this point, any ideas are possible and all are welcome. So while we wait for Musk’s designs, what do you think about Hyperloop? Is it an idea worth pursuing or investing in? Is there any way to make it feasible? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

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