Tesla Founder Proposes High-Speed Commuter “Hyperloop”

Silicon Valley billionaire inventor Elon Musk proposes building a new high-speed transportation system that would allow passengers to zip between distant cities at about 760 mph.

Musk describes the system, dubbed Hyperloop, in an extraordinarily detailed report issued on Monday.

The concept involves a series of air-cushioned pods, each carrying as many as 28 passengers. The pods are propelled by a solar-powered electric induction motors through a tube supported by pylons. Electric pulses traveling within the tubes would engage magnetized blades on each pod to push the vehicles forward. Solar panels mounted atop the tubes would provide the electricity.

Musk, the PayPal founder famous for launching the private space travel company SpaceX and the electric carmaker Tesla Motors, says a Hyperloop between Los Angeles and San Francisco would cost $6 billion-$10 billion to build. But it would cut travel time between the cities to about 30 minutes.

Musk believes a prototype could be built in three to four years. He says erecting a working version in the right-of-way of Interstate 5 could significantly reduce costs compared to a planned high-speed railway between the two cities.