Comic #76 : "What's It Called? Hyperloop!"

After last's comic's rather serious message I figured it would make sense to do a more straightforwards parody that people won't take the wrong way. Thank you Elon Musk for providing it.

The Hyperloop won't happen. Now, I don't have anything sufficiently expensive enough to lay on the line in a bet, but if I did I would totally bet it on it not happening

There are several reasons. It purports to be the 'fifth' type of transport after road, rail, water and air but it isn't. There is a fundamental difference between this and those four types. All of the infrastructure in the other forms is not locked in to a single point to point system. The road network allows anyone to drive wherever they want. Trains may have stations in fixed points, but the network allows trains flexibility in where they go. The same is true of boats and airports. With the Hyperloop this does not seem to be the case, it's more like a cable car.

I could also discuss several technical issues, such as the fact that if one pod stops then it jams up the whole system, or also the fact the creating a length of self contained tubing should be massively more expensive than railway tracks, not cheaper, but to be fair I'm not an expert in the field and technological progress could resolve these issues

But it won't happen. Which does beg the question - why has Elon Musk announced it?

Well, the truth is, he hasn't announced anything. He clearly stated he doesn't have the time to do it and it's an open source project. This is even more evidence against it happening.

His reasons for announcing it have nothing to do with ever realising it. He's done it because it reminds people of his brand values. He runs a space rocket company, he runs an electric car company. He's associated himself with clean energy and futuristic projects - that is his brand.

So announcing something like this, creating a big publicity event, and it gets him in the news, with images of a futuristic pod system, reinforcing the perception he wants.