Elon Musk promises to unveil Hyperloop by August 12

Alpha designs for Musk's magic super high-speed travel system will be open source

Could it be that Tony Stark doppelganger Elon Musk isn’t just trying to be a jerk and take the wind out of California’s hopes for a high-speed rail system when he talks about how much better his own Hyperloop high-speed travel system will be? Musk has been playing up Hyperloop for a year now—hinting at how much faster it will be, how much more cost-efficient it will be, all without actually revealing any real details about Hyperloop—like when we could see it.

But now it looks like we’re getting down to the nitty gritty. Musk tweeted Monday morning that he will be publishing the Hyperloop alpha design by August 12.

Interestingly (maybe frighteningly), he’s eschewing the patent system in favor of going open source. “Critical feedbacks for improvement would be much appreciated,” tweeted Musk, adding: “I really hate patents unless critically important to company survival. Will publish Hyperloop as open source.”

He also noted that California’s earthquake-prone areas are a critical design driver.

Musk has dropped tantalizing little nuggets teasing Hyperloop since he announced his plans for the super high speed travel system in July 2012. That happened to be shortly after California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill that would fund the initial leg of the high-speed rail project that would connect northern and southern California and was approved by voters back in 2008. The California high speed rail system is designed to get travelers from San Francisco to Los Angeles in two and a half hours.

Pfft, says Musk (he didn’t say that). Hyperloop will be able to get you from San Francisco to Los Angeles in as little as 30 minutes. Calling Hyperloop the “fifth mode of transportation,” Musk has described it as a “cross between a Concorde, a railgun, and an air hockey table.” While California’s bullet train will travel at a speed of 164 miles an hour between San Francisco and Los Angeles, Hyperloop will travel at nearly 700 miles per hour.

He claims it can never crash, goes 3-4 times faster than the currently projected California bullet train, is immune to weather, and can even be self-powering with solar panels. Oh yeah, and it will also cost one-tenth of the cost of California’s projected bullet train. California has set aside $60 billion for its high-speed rail system, but Musk says Hyperloop could be built for just $6 billion.

In other words, it will look something like this:

Image source: dailytech.com