Elon Musk

unveiling this while CA is deep in the hole with it's bullet-train project (something I support wholeheartedly btw) is pretty arrogant

Knowing how CA politics works (and the CA rail projects are amazingly political), how would you expect a non-arrogant to even get traction with this?

I have no doubt that Musk will solve the Hyperloop technical issues. I very much have doubts about him navigating Sacramento.

I was describing this to my wife today and kept calling it Supertube.

Bad connotations...

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/supertrain-1_7696.jpg

lol @ the "open source" pdf proposal. build a section of the thing and then get back to us when you have it working.

Musk says the Hyperloop is best for distances of 900 miles. Beyond 900 miles, he thinks you're better off in a supersonic jet.

Lol

I never use my supersonic jet anymore as parking is always a total bitch

I have to say I rather like Elon Musk. He's made a massive pile of money and rather than sitting on it or managing it in mundane ways; he's making risky bets on thinks he's passionate about: Cars, Rockets, vacuum tubes.

Hyperloop seems a bit ridiculous to me, vacuum tube powered trains and trains in evacuated tubes are an old chestnut, almost as old as railways themselves. However, he's built a commercially viable private space programme and a car company* in the last ten years so anything is possible.

*Tesla isn't really a car company it's a power train company and if it is still making cars in 5 years I'll be surprised.

ya i'm kinda ll for crackpot genius billionaires actually doing interesting stuff, up until they become str8 up supervillains obv

lol @ the "open source" pdf proposal. build a section of the thing and then get back to us when you have it working.

― wk, Tuesday, August 13, 2013 2:23 AM

he might do this

is this dude one of the crazy silicon valley libertarian types or is he just beloved by them?

iirc he has liberal tendencies mixed in w the libertarianism

xp I heard him speak and he seemed not crazy and to have some kind of social or at least environmental conscience, unlike the usual libertarian types, but maybe he's just better at hiding it

(I like him too fwiw and right now he seems one of the most likely "crackpot genius billionaires" to solve some hard problems which are overdue for solving, so I hope he carries on with that. Also hoping that one day I'll get to see/read his computer game that appeared in some 8-bit micro type-in listings mag in the 80s)

he's not as bad as some of the other silicon valley libtards, I'll give him that.

nonetheless, this is a stupid proposal

do tell

curious to read a critique that amounts to more than 'hyperlol'

I think it's dumb that he's throwing around numbers when he doesn't even have a working prototype. It just seems like he's hoping to derail the other project. I also think the "open source" thing is pretty silly since it's not like code where an individual can make some kind of improvement and test it out to see if it works. I guess an open source design is an interesting idea after the fact if he actually gets it working and other people want to build his design, but it still seems basically irrelevant.

Didn't he make his fortune with Peter thiel?
I don't know if that is "guilt by association" or "looking better by comparison"

It just seems like he's hoping to derail the other project

^^^

A key part of his criticism of the other rail plan is that it's "more expensive to operate (if unsubsidized)." I'd like to see some more detailed numbers on that though. Why would we count the cost of unsubsidized rail against air travel which is heavily subsidized? All that really matters is cost to the traveller, and unlike airlines, I'm assuming the high speed rail system is not going to be run as a for-profit business. He also makes no comparison of the environmental costs of air flight vs. the planned high speed rail system.

markers, here are some of the people that were entertainingly scathing: kalebhorton, quartzcity, tcarmody, mikesonn

― eris bueller (lukas), Monday, August 12, 2013 11:24 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I'm generally contemptuous of futurists, primarily because they seem to think energy and climate change problems will just sort themselves out, but a mass transit system that relies on solar power and transports people across one of the busiest stretches of highway in America is a good thing. I looked at the first two feeds you suggested and they seemed to just be saying this is just a toy for rich people, which is afaict completely unsupported by his proposal. He's not suggesting a magic carpet for billionaires; it's mass transit that uses solar power. This is a good thing! Maybe it's completely impossible hogwash, but I'd like to see actual engineering criticism of it instead of casual dismissals based on suspicion of ideas from rich people.

the main challenges are not engineering-related, their political

anybody who is over the age of 25, has lived in a city for any length of time, and paid a modicum of attention to the world around them knows that these kinds of massive public works projects tend to be underbid by shady contractors and then they go wildly over the original schedule and budget. so the fact that he's coming in saying he can do it so much cheaper with a totally new and untested technology is a huge red flag. to me it immediately suggests that the whole thing is not serious.

if he honestly thinks this is a feasible plan he should raise some funding and build a private line from LA to Vegas.

It's transparently unserious in that he doesn't want to do it himself and "regrets even mentioning it"

right, that aspect has been p funny

haha, I missed that part

ya seems like he said something offhandedly then realized abt his celebrity

a mass transit system that relies on solar power and transports people across one of the busiest stretches of highway in America is a good thing.

people don't commute the LA to SF corridor though. i have a hard time believing a transit system would fill the role of the 5 freeway. it's mostly trucks anyway.

You know what would do really well in transportation corridors like that? Plain old freight trains.

I swear, the interstate highway system and the fact it's mostly used for semi truck freight is the biggest money hole in our post-WW2 car-dependent wonderland

there already are freight trains

people don't commute the LA to SF corridor though.

?! they most certainly do. there are these things called commuter flights, they are booked solid all the time.

there are a lot more trucks xp

what exactly are you proposing?

a solar powered superhighway paved with bitcoins duh

that we subsidize more public transport of freight in addition to passengers? or at least reallocate money away from interstate highways

idk, iatee and his ideas about gas prices to thread

HOOS otm

ah, ok. I thought maybe there was a problem with CA's existing freight lines. I don't really know anything about them but I do see freight trains going up and down the state all the time.

If this thing actually worked the political will would develop pretty quickly. If the Acela line was shipping people 400 miles in 30 minutes every state would want one.

Which is why yeah, he should just fucking build one. I wonder what a good demonstration distance would be.

L.A. to S.D.?

http://www.humancannonball.us/IMAGES/photos/017.jpg

what are the possible operating failure modes on one these loops

giant pillow deployment

halp im stuck in a tube inside of a tube

*giant sucking sound*

http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj176/rsjem23/HomerWaterslide.jpg

homerloop

i don't understand why this would be a good alternative to commuter flights

I'd rather see the money spent on suburb-to-city trolley lines

commuter flights are very carbon-intensive, for one thing

There are ways.

http://opinion-forum.com/index/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/airplane_hybrid.jpg

wouldn't even a dependable normal rail line be comparable to commuter flights by the time you figure in airport screening and boarding times and shit?

n/m, I am being way optimistic about rail speeds

there is a rail line that runs the California coast, it's called Amtrak

while researching this I got in my list of results a thread about one of these incidents in the Cybertruck Owners Club message board and man, they are all very much in denial about this risk.

The Arenas story is wild because the crash happened was a straight line grid street with 4 wide lanes yet this sophisticated safety enabled vehicle managed to run all the way over the sidewalk, up the curb, over a FIRE HYDRANT (!) and smash into a tree... all in broad daylight.

If the car had NOT run over the fire hydrant that was keeping the car from turning into a firebomb, dude would be dead.

https://i.imgur.com/ijpFakW.png

https://i.imgur.com/Wc4TwQY.jpeg

like how does this happen in a car that's #2 advertised feature is its advanced driver-assistance systems offering "state of the art" lane-assist and collision avoidance?

It found a woke person and chased after

looking into it

Another fun recall Cybertrucks had thos year

Rearview Camera Delay
The rearview cameras, which have been a requirement in newer vehicles since May 2018, may experience delay after shifting into reverse. This delay reduces the driver’s view of what’s behind them, which increases the risk of a crash. Due to this faulty rearview Cybertruck camera, the vehicles were considered to have failed to comply with the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard regulations.

cant even get a camera to turn on my lord

Imagine being cited because your backup camera was showing you what happened 5 seconds earlier.

This is why I've never fully embraced it

He noticed a few things were off with the Cybertruck as he drove to the gym, he said, such as flickering light displays. But the troubles ramped up rapidly on the way home, according to his account. “The wheel wasn’t moving as, like, easy as it should,” he said, and the car drifted over to the right between stoplights without him meaning it to. Then, coming out of a red light, the wheel felt locked in place with a rightward tilt, as if the car wasn’t on at all, he said. He sped up to make sure nobody was behind him as the car turned, he said, adding: “When I’m turning, when I’m speeding up to turn, I can’t stop. So the wheel’s not responding to me, as if I’m not physically in there.”

Arenas went over a curb before hitting a fire hydrant and a tree. The Cybertruck caught fire, and the hydrant launched a fountain of water. Inside the car, smoke started to crowd in around Arenas. Its windows fogged opaque, and the doors wouldn’t open, he said. The vehicle’s windows, which Tesla says are made of a “shatter-resistant armor glass,” wouldn’t break, he added.

It felt like hours were going by, Arenas said during the press conference, as critical seconds ticked away. He passed in and out of consciousness, biting his lips and clenching his hands to keep himself awake. He removed his clothes and cooled his body with water he found in a fast food bag. He yelled and pounded on the window to make noise. Arenas said he checked the the car’s app on his phone and found that it still showed him at the gym. As he worked to try to budge the top of one of the Cybertruck’s windows, he positioned himself so that when he passed out, his upper body would fall into a less smoky part of the vehicle, he said.

An onlooker, Bryant Sandoval, told KABC-TV that he heard the banging from inside the car, tried to stop the fire and attempted to smash the Cybertruck’s back window but to no avail. Then, he saw the driver’s side window ajar, he said. Video obtained by TMZ shows Sandoval trying to yank down the window. He then managed to pull Arenas from the car.

jesus christ

That's absolutely terrifying. I can't believe these things are allowed on the roads at all.

"The car's on fire and there's no driver at the wheel"

-DOGE 2025