ForumGarden

This much hyped new system of transport has had a lot of coverage. It's never out of the news.

So, just how practical is it ? How safe is it ?

If SpaceX and Tesla are investing in it, it can't exactly be a gimmick but there are so many holes being picked in this, like the extrordinary power requirements for creating, even a partial vacuum.

Without the vacuum, we just have a tube. The likes of which we've had since the mid 19th century.

More hype than hyper.

Try looking forward fifty years. Projecting that far is not a thing that anyone has been able to do since 1900, I don't think you can pick a year since then when there's not something fifty years later which has totally changed society but was completely unseen at the time.

Anyway, will there be a traffic increase or a decrease? Will people be staying at home or will they be commuting?

I don't think many people will own their own car, I think autonomous driverless cars will cruise about Uber-style and pick up their nearest supplicant all day. I think that will be a lot cheaper than owning a car. It also destroys the current parking armageddon which has enveloped every town and city centre in the UK. Definitely win-win.

Is that enough, or are the roads still inadequate? I don't think these autonomous vehicles are going to be airborne even fifty years on. I do think cities like London/Birmingham/Manchester/Bristol are so clagged up that tunnelling the way Musk envisages is a reasonable way forward, but I'd be as happy if they just increased tube traffic. Other cities have an underground, why on earth has England never tried. Bristol needed one in 1960 and wimped out over the cost, it would have been well-used this last fifty years if they'd bit that particular bullet at the time.

Running autonomous driverless vehicles through the tunnels? Okay, I don't object, if they want to go that way, but they'll never do it with the public driving their own cars.

Running autonomous vehicles in a tunnel is one thing and clearly a benefit. Virgin is looking at a Hyperloop, ie an partially evacuated tunnel for passengers and freight by the mid 20's. Thats not 50 years. The power requirements for that are phenomenal and we've all seen the results of a sudden vacuum failure.

Tesla's Hyperloop test tunnel is less than 1.5 km long. If Virgin are to be believed, we have essentially 7 - 10 years to get from that, to fully functioning long distance tubes, carrying passengers.

The Earth is constantly moving, so the allowance for expansion and contraction in a hyperloop tube crucial when considering the atmospheric pressures

But....If the cost of the tickets are anything like what is proposed, well, we'll be queuing round the blocks.

"It is already anticipated that the 350-mile trip between Los Angeles and San Francisco will cost $20 each way."

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/i ... asible.asp

Snowfire;1521654 wrote: Running autonomous vehicles in a tunnel is one thing and clearly a benefit. Virgin is looking at a Hyperloop, ie an partially evacuated tunnel for passengers and freight by the mid 20's. Thats not 50 years. The power requirements for that are phenomenal and we've all seen the results of a sudden vacuum failure.

Tesla's Hyperloop test tunnel is less than 1.5 km long. If Virgin are to be believed, we have essentially 7 - 10 years to get from that, to fully functioning long distance tubes, carrying passengers.

The Earth is constantly moving, so the allowance for expansion and contraction in a hyperloop tube crucial when considering the atmospheric pressures

But....If the cost of the tickets are anything like what is proposed, well, we'll be queuing round the blocks.

"It is already anticipated that the 350-mile trip between Los Angeles and San Francisco will cost $20 each way."

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/i ... asible.asp


Promises, promises - they have to get the investors on board and will say anything to make it sound good.

Snowfire;1521652 wrote: This much hyped new system of transport has had a lot of coverage. It's never out of the news.

So, just how practical is it ? How safe is it ?

If SpaceX and Tesla are investing in it, it can't exactly be a gimmick but there are so many holes being picked in this, like the extrordinary power requirements for creating, even a partial vacuum.

Without the vacuum, we just have a tube. The likes of which we've had since the mid 19th century.

More hype than hyper.


A couple of companies in our region are active in the development and there is a plan to test between Denver and Kansas City, and perhaps Omaha. I don't really anticipate a viable commercial application in my lifetime, but if they get it working and are looking for people willing to take the ride when they have a working prototype ready, I would fancy quick trip to KC and back.

I'm just glad to see Snowfire again! I missed you! Merry Xmas.

AnneBoleyn;1521667 wrote: I'm just glad to see Snowfire again! I missed you! Merry Xmas.


It's a pleasure to see you again AB. Merry Christmas to you too....now back to the kitchen

Snowfire;1521668 wrote: It's a pleasure to see you again AB. Merry Christmas to you too....now back to the kitchen


Me not you....lol

If you think about it we already have driverless vehicles in tunnels. We use them every day. They're called Lifts (or Elevators, if you're American) - although they, too, used to have to have drivers. The main problem of Autonomous Vehicles, at the moment, is that they have to deal with Non-Autonomous Vehicles (and humans), which are not so predictable.