For one, Elon Musk has a tendency of overextending himself. Right now he's the CEO of at least three companies. Maybe that makes it even a better question why he didn't look into building this himself.
The Hyperloop tubes could run underground, and if there is some sort of revolution in the cost-efficiency of tunnel boring, that would make it an even better option. Which is probably one of the reasons that Elon Musk founded The Boring Company.
Also, Hyperloop was floated as an alternative to the California high speed rail project--partly out of frustration that the California high speed rail line would be both the most expensive high speed rail line in the world and the lowest speed high speed rail line in the world, but also partly because Elon Musk owns a car company and has a vested interest in discouraging future investment in other forms of transportation. What's the best way to torpedo public support for building rail right here and now? Promising something even better, that no one will actually fund and build because it's a huge unknown.
The thing about Tesla is that Tesla's success relies upon long term growth and success, and the biggest risk to that strategy is a long-term decline in car ownership and usage. And Musk is famously defensive about Tesla.
Most of Musk's wild flights of fancy, if they do succeed, go through multiple stages of revision before an actual product emerges. With Hyperloop, Musk basically dumped the first draft of one of his flights of fancy on the world and said, "I'm too busy building electric cars and going to Mars to do this myself". And that's perfectly fair by itself!
But the first stage of revision for Musk tends to be taking an obvious, cost-effective if not profitable first step. Launching satellites and resupplying ISS was the obvious first step to going to Mars, and licensing a Lotus roadster body and building an electric supercar with it was the obvious first step to electrifying the automobile industry. Maybe Musk thinks The Boring Company is a good first step towards building Hyperloop.
For one, Elon Musk has a tendency of overextending himself. Right now he's the CEO of at least three companies. Maybe that makes it even a better question why he didn't look into building this himself.
The Hyperloop tubes could run underground, and if there is some sort of revolution in the cost-efficiency of tunnel boring, that would make it an even better option. Which is probably one of the reasons that Elon Musk founded The Boring Company.
Also, Hyperloop was floated as an alternative to the California high speed rail project--partly out of frustration that the California high speed rail line would be both the most expensive high speed rail line in the world and the lowest speed high speed rail line in the world, but also partly because Elon Musk owns a car company and has a vested interest in discouraging future investment in other forms of transportation. What's the best way to torpedo public support for building rail right here and now? Promising something even better, that no one will actually fund and build because it's a huge unknown.
The thing about Tesla is that Tesla's success relies upon long term growth and success, and the biggest risk to that strategy is a long-term decline in car ownership and usage. And Musk is famously defensive about Tesla.
Most of Musk's wild flights of fancy, if they do succeed, go through multiple stages of revision before an actual product emerges. With Hyperloop, Musk basically dumped the first draft of one of his flights of fancy on the world and said, "I'm too busy building electric cars and going to Mars to do this myself". And that's perfectly fair by itself!
But the first stage of revision for Musk tends to be taking an obvious, cost-effective if not profitable first step. Launching satellites and resupplying ISS was the obvious first step to going to Mars, and licensing a Lotus roadster body and building an electric supercar with it was the obvious first step to electrifying the automobile industry. Maybe Musk thinks The Boring Company is a good first step towards building Hyperloop.