Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
Hyperloop One, the futuristic transportation startup that promised to whisk us through nearly airless tubes at airline speeds, is shutting down, according to Bloomberg.
The company is selling off its assets, closing down its offices, and laying off employees. It will formally close at the end of the year, at which point all of its intellectual property will shift to its majority stakeholder, major Dubai port operator DP World. Whoever buys the test track in the Nevada desert will have one hell of a Slip ‘N Slide if they want it.
Since its founding in 2014, the company raised around $450 million in venture capital funds and other investments. While there is still a small smattering of startups trying to build hyperloops, the demise of one of the biggest hyperloop companies signals the end of the dream that originated with Elon Musk’s so-called “alpha paper” in 2013.
Whoever buys the test track in the Nevada desert will have one hell of a Slip ‘N Slide if they want it
Musk theorized that aerodynamic aluminum capsules filled with passengers or cargo could be propelled through a nearly airless tube at speeds of up to 760mph. These tubes, either raised on pylons or sunk beneath the earth, could be built either within or between cities. He called it a “fifth mode of transportation” and argued it could help change the way we live, work, trade, and travel.
The most eye-catching scenario he proposed was a trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco in only 30 minutes. The idea captured the imaginations of engineers and investors across the world.
[...] Critics said that while the hyperloop may be technically feasible, it still only amounts to vaporware. It’s been called a “utopian vision” that would be financially impossible to achieve. It’s one of those technologies that is also “just around the corner,” according to its boosters — despite outwardly appearing to still be years away from completion. In 2017, Virgin Hyperloop’s top executives told The Verge they expect to see “working hyperloops around the world... by 2020.” That deadline was later pushed to 2021.
[...] Today, no full-scale hyperloops exist anywhere in the world. Musk’s test tunnel in California is gone. The man himself has become more enamored with endorsing antisemitic theories than solving the problem of car traffic.
The Boring Company, Musk’s tunneling operation, is still digging underground passageways in Las Vegas — but for Teslas, not hyperloops. The future, it would seem, is nearly the same as the present.
(Score: 2, Informative) by driverless on Monday December 25, @06:35AM (1 child)
and he stuck to it no matter how many subject matter experts told him, in any amount of detail required, why it was economically impossible (even if technically possible assuming you had, say, $43 billion to burn on it) to achieve.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by darkfeline on Monday December 25, @07:28AM
> and he stuck to it no matter how many subject matter experts told him, in any amount of detail required, why it was economically impossible (even if technically possible assuming you had, say, $43 billion to burn on it) to achieve.
Well, just look at how many people think the same about ubiquitous EVs despite the same impossibilities around the magnitude of electricity transmission and storage. Smart people can reason about one thing and then turn around and obsess about their own thing. Humans are fundamentally irrational.
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 0, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 25, @07:50AM (1 child)
Does anyone edit these submissions?
(Score: 5, Funny) by GloomMower on Monday December 25, @08:41AM
Whoever buys the test track in the Nevada desert will have one hell of a Slip ‘N Slide if they want it
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 25, @11:32AM (2 children)
There's no use kvetching about Musk or Trump anymore now that progressives are being open about their antisemitism. Merry Christmas!
(Score: 1, Troll) by crafoo on Monday December 25, @11:57PM (1 child)
antisemitism is a fake word. it has no real meaning. criticizing a nation's foreign policy or identifying nepotistic, cultish behavior should not be crimes (but they are in some places)
(Score: 3, Informative) by gtomorrow on Tuesday December 26, @06:37AM
Not according to...
Not sure what your motivation was for posting this fallacy— the word does exist and it's not fake — but you are only technically correct as it's actually "anti-Semitism" but colloquially accepted as "antisemitism".
(Score: 4, Informative) by RamiK on Monday December 25, @02:01PM (1 child)
Critics were saying it's not technically feasible since it's impossible to catch up with the (friction & vibration) material wear that a long tube that's held in (partial) vacuum will go through as tons of machinery slide through it. It wasn't simply a question of costs but how the downtime for having to lubricate, clean and replaced cracked/damaged tube segments would have you close down tracks multiple times a day where the equivalent maglev might only have a few hours of downtime a month or even a year.
For contrast, SpaceX faced mixed critiques: The lighter rockets were thought to be feasible but probably not economical while the heavier rockets were considered impossible. Since then, the launch market expanded (thanks to satcom getting subsidized) enough to scale the lighter rockets but the heavier rockets had to be redesigned from the grounds up. The heavy's delays and cost overrun left NASA's SLS in the game so now the tax payer is down for a few billions twice over.
compiling...
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 26, @03:31AM
How many 28 passenger pods per hour can you really safely send through the tube?
2 minute gap = 840 passengers per hour.
1 minute gap = 1680 passengers per hour.
For hyperloop the passengers must be seated and buckled.
With high speed rail you can have more than 15,000 passengers per hour per route.
And other rail transport could be even more.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Revek on Monday December 25, @03:44PM (4 children)
From the standpoint that the point of it all was to muddy the waters and prevent California from building modern rail. After all you wouldn't want to be able to get on a train and in a matter of hours be across the state for a fraction of what you could drive there in a car. You know, like in Asia or Europe.
This page was generated by a Swarm of Roaming Elephants
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 25, @05:12PM (1 child)
If you thought California was ever going to build high-speed rail, I have a train to sell you.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday December 25, @07:29PM
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday December 25, @07:31PM
He wouldn't have had to try. California is its own worst enemy when it comes to that. Just another reason the state is self-destructing.
(Score: 2) by istartedi on Thursday December 28, @06:48AM
California HSR was a boondoggle long before Musk's Hyperloop concept. The bonds were approved by voters in 2008 [wikipedia.org]. Musk first mentioned hyperloop in 2012 [wikipedia.org]. To date, CHSR is nowhere near carrying its first passenger. The state is *obligated* to spend the money it has raised, as well as Federal contributions. Musk could not slow the project in any meaningful way; perhaps even the Governor couldn't, although maybe the state legislature could. They legally have to spend that money on rail construction.
By way of comparison, China began a program to up the speeds of its trains in 2007, and 38,000 km (24,000 mi) [wikipedia.org] meet those standards carrying actual passengers.
Let's face it. Collectively, we just don't want it that badly, or we'd have it. It's not our core competency and IMHO we should own that and simply make sure our air travel continues to be among the safest forms of travel, or at the very least build out rail in ways that make more sense.
I have said elsewhere, and maintain that blood is on the hands of the people doing all this because they didn't prioritize grade separation in developed areas FIRST. While the rail from Cracktown to Meth City is being built in the Central Valley, we've racked up a nice little death toll at grade-crossings in the Bay Area. That grade separation is a prerequisite for bringing HSR to the BA in the first place. Oh, they've got the overhead electric in now at least in Redwood City the last time I was there; but they still have grade crossings!
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by DadaDoofy on Monday December 25, @05:31PM (2 children)
"The man himself has become more enamored with endorsing antisemitic theories than solving the problem of car traffic."
I can only imagine the despair those trying to pin anti-semitism on the right for the last 80 years must be experiencing since Oct 7. That narrative has all but swirled down the drain now that every leftist/marxist/communist worth their salt has taken to the streets in an unanimous unrestrained call for genocide against the Jews.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 25, @06:58PM (1 child)
Stand back and stand by.
Citation needed.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 26, @01:38AM
I haven't heard any unrestrained call for genocide against the Jews, at least not from the left. Nor have I heard any credible support for the Hamas attack against Israel. Apparently criticizing Israel's own heavy handed response to the attack, a response that will likely accomplish nothing but create a new generation in Palestinian areas of those who feel they have reason to hate Israel, is akin to genocide against the Jews to some irrational people. Israel has to be careful lest they themselves become accused of attempted genocide.