Here’s the full video of the D11 interview of Tesla CEO Elon Musk by Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher, where he made some news about Tesla crosscountry superchargers and forecast the feasibility of reusable rockets.
Elon Musk touched on another pet project: Hyperloop. The rapid transit system would connect downtown Los Angeles with San Francisco, 380 miles away. Musk told the crowd that more details for the project would be available on June 20th. Hyperloop would be “a cross between a Concorde, a rail gun, and an air hockey table.” Musk joked, “even if I’m wrong about the economic assumptions, it would be a really fun ride.” Musk claimed that his imagined train system would go “3 or 4 times faster than the [California] bullet train” or twice the speed of an aircraft, shuttling people from LA to San Francisco in under 30 minutes. It’s possible that the Hyperloop could even be 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,” he said.
Perhaps Elon has provided enough of a basic outline of what he is proposing – a rail gun with air hockey table. Magnetic acceleration with lift from air hockey like air jets below the train as it passes over.
If you liked this article, please give it a quick review on ycombinator or StumbleUpon. Thanks
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels.
A frequent speaker at corporations, he has been a TEDx speaker, a Singularity University speaker and guest at numerous interviews for radio and podcasts. He is open to public speaking and advising engagements.