1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:12,039 --> 00:00:14,720 Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:14,920 --> 00:00:17,800 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio. 4 00:00:18,600 --> 00:00:22,799 Speaker 1: And how the tech are you? I've been better? Uh. 5 00:00:22,920 --> 00:00:26,040 Speaker 1: Those who follow me on Twitter probably saw that despite 6 00:00:26,079 --> 00:00:31,320 Speaker 1: all of my careful behavior, being vaccinated and boosted and 7 00:00:31,360 --> 00:00:35,879 Speaker 1: wearing masks and all that, I still managed apparently to 8 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:41,040 Speaker 1: catch COVID. I feel mostly okay, uh, And I'm actually 9 00:00:41,080 --> 00:00:44,559 Speaker 1: getting a different kind of test tomorrow to make certain 10 00:00:44,880 --> 00:00:48,280 Speaker 1: that this is a truly a positive case and not 11 00:00:48,320 --> 00:00:51,080 Speaker 1: a false positive, because the results I got were very 12 00:00:51,120 --> 00:00:56,440 Speaker 1: faint but within the realm of saying that's a positive results. 13 00:00:56,440 --> 00:01:02,320 Speaker 1: So I'm taking all precautions. Isolated in my house, and 14 00:01:03,080 --> 00:01:05,839 Speaker 1: I dealing with all that meant that I wasn't quite 15 00:01:05,840 --> 00:01:08,160 Speaker 1: ready to have a full new episode for you. However, 16 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:13,960 Speaker 1: in Seen, I recorded an episode titled hyper Loop and 17 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:18,000 Speaker 1: the Boring Podcast, which in itself was an update to 18 00:01:18,080 --> 00:01:22,880 Speaker 1: a two thousand thirteen episode titled The Hype about hyper Loop, 19 00:01:23,520 --> 00:01:25,160 Speaker 1: and I figured it was it was time for a 20 00:01:25,240 --> 00:01:27,520 Speaker 1: quick update on what's been going on in the hyper 21 00:01:27,520 --> 00:01:31,560 Speaker 1: loop world since two thousand seventeen. But you know, I 22 00:01:31,760 --> 00:01:33,800 Speaker 1: there's no reason for me to re record like a 23 00:01:33,880 --> 00:01:37,319 Speaker 1: whole episode about hyper loop I have done that, and 24 00:01:37,400 --> 00:01:41,240 Speaker 1: so I thought instead is I would play the two 25 00:01:41,240 --> 00:01:44,440 Speaker 1: thousand seventeen episode and then at the end. This is 26 00:01:44,440 --> 00:01:46,880 Speaker 1: a long episode, but at the end of that I 27 00:01:46,880 --> 00:01:51,280 Speaker 1: will give you some updates about the specific hyper loop 28 00:01:51,440 --> 00:01:54,520 Speaker 1: one company that kind of emerged from all this. There 29 00:01:54,600 --> 00:01:57,240 Speaker 1: are other companies all around the world that are also 30 00:01:57,320 --> 00:02:00,520 Speaker 1: building out variations on the hyper loop design. Some of 31 00:02:00,560 --> 00:02:03,640 Speaker 1: them are so far removed from the hyper loop design 32 00:02:03,640 --> 00:02:06,720 Speaker 1: that I wouldn't even call them that anymore. But I'm 33 00:02:06,760 --> 00:02:12,079 Speaker 1: specifically focusing on kind of the O G hyper Loop company. Also, 34 00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:14,480 Speaker 1: this was this episode that you're about to here. It 35 00:02:14,520 --> 00:02:17,640 Speaker 1: was recorded right at the tail end of my time 36 00:02:17,639 --> 00:02:22,080 Speaker 1: with how stuff Works dot Com, before stuff Media, which 37 00:02:22,120 --> 00:02:25,040 Speaker 1: was like the podcast arm of How Stuff Works spun 38 00:02:25,120 --> 00:02:27,880 Speaker 1: out from the company, and then of course I Heart 39 00:02:27,960 --> 00:02:32,960 Speaker 1: Media subsequently acquired stuff Media. So this is a real 40 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:34,919 Speaker 1: blast from the past. I listened to a little bit 41 00:02:34,919 --> 00:02:36,880 Speaker 1: of it and I was like, oh, yeah, that's what 42 00:02:37,080 --> 00:02:41,040 Speaker 1: two thousand seventeen was like. But enjoy this episode from 43 00:02:41,080 --> 00:02:44,840 Speaker 1: I'll be back at the end with some updates I'm 44 00:02:44,880 --> 00:02:47,320 Speaker 1: so enthusiastic in fact, that I'm going to revisit a 45 00:02:47,480 --> 00:02:51,480 Speaker 1: topic that we covered way back in two thousand thirteen. 46 00:02:52,480 --> 00:02:55,840 Speaker 1: That would be hyper loop. Yeah, that's when we published 47 00:02:55,840 --> 00:02:59,959 Speaker 1: the episode titled the Hype About hyper Loop, because I'm 48 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:04,720 Speaker 1: clever with headlines, y'all. Since that time, we've had a 49 00:03:04,720 --> 00:03:09,040 Speaker 1: couple of startups that formed in order to pour in money, time, 50 00:03:09,160 --> 00:03:14,080 Speaker 1: resources effort to make hyper loop into a reality, change 51 00:03:14,080 --> 00:03:18,679 Speaker 1: it from just this interesting vision Elon Musk had into 52 00:03:18,720 --> 00:03:22,359 Speaker 1: an actual form of transportation. So I thought it would 53 00:03:22,400 --> 00:03:25,400 Speaker 1: behoove us to revisit the topic and see where things 54 00:03:25,520 --> 00:03:28,480 Speaker 1: stand now. Plus I can use the word behoove again. 55 00:03:28,919 --> 00:03:32,040 Speaker 1: That's twice in the same day. I'm recording this. The 56 00:03:32,120 --> 00:03:34,680 Speaker 1: same day I did a live stream about the game 57 00:03:34,760 --> 00:03:38,720 Speaker 1: Dungeons and Dragons on a show called Game Changers. Behoof 58 00:03:38,920 --> 00:03:42,160 Speaker 1: is my word of the day. Anyway, I can also 59 00:03:42,200 --> 00:03:48,119 Speaker 1: talk about a really boring company, and that's what's called foreshadowing. Now, 60 00:03:48,120 --> 00:03:50,920 Speaker 1: before I jump into the latest news, I should go 61 00:03:50,960 --> 00:03:53,560 Speaker 1: back over the history of the hyper loop concept and 62 00:03:53,640 --> 00:03:56,840 Speaker 1: explain not just where it came from, but what is 63 00:03:57,160 --> 00:03:59,600 Speaker 1: the actual idea of the hyper loop and how is 64 00:03:59,640 --> 00:04:02,240 Speaker 1: it's a post to work, and why is it even 65 00:04:02,320 --> 00:04:06,640 Speaker 1: something worth talking about? Well, back in August, that's when 66 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:10,920 Speaker 1: the world at large learned about the hyper loop concept. 67 00:04:10,960 --> 00:04:14,200 Speaker 1: It's when Elon Musk published a white paper that was 68 00:04:14,200 --> 00:04:17,840 Speaker 1: about fifty eight pages long. And Elon Musk, in case 69 00:04:17,920 --> 00:04:22,360 Speaker 1: you aren't aware, is the entrepreneur behind such companies as SpaceX, 70 00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:27,479 Speaker 1: the private space company, and Tesla, the electric vehicle company. 71 00:04:27,760 --> 00:04:31,200 Speaker 1: This white paper was all about a high tech transportation 72 00:04:31,279 --> 00:04:35,520 Speaker 1: system is kind of a train, kind of like a subway, 73 00:04:35,880 --> 00:04:38,599 Speaker 1: kind of like well, Elon must described it as a 74 00:04:38,640 --> 00:04:41,400 Speaker 1: cross between a hockey table, like an air hockey table, 75 00:04:41,600 --> 00:04:44,240 Speaker 1: and a rail gun, which is a pretty exciting way 76 00:04:44,279 --> 00:04:46,880 Speaker 1: to think about getting from point A to point B. Now, 77 00:04:46,920 --> 00:04:49,159 Speaker 1: the motivating factor for all of this seems to be 78 00:04:49,320 --> 00:04:52,560 Speaker 1: that the state of California had approved a high speed 79 00:04:52,720 --> 00:04:57,679 Speaker 1: rail project and Elon Musk it got his dander up. 80 00:04:57,839 --> 00:05:00,880 Speaker 1: If you were to look at Elon Musk's dander that day, 81 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:04,000 Speaker 1: it would have been in the up position. Now, that's 82 00:05:04,040 --> 00:05:08,039 Speaker 1: because in that white paper, Musk laid out all of 83 00:05:08,120 --> 00:05:12,040 Speaker 1: his frustrations with this high speed rail project, and they 84 00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:14,800 Speaker 1: really boiled down to two major ones with a lot 85 00:05:14,839 --> 00:05:18,400 Speaker 1: of subsidiary ones. The two major ones was that would 86 00:05:18,400 --> 00:05:20,960 Speaker 1: be that uh, that one. It was incredibly expensive, just 87 00:05:21,320 --> 00:05:26,920 Speaker 1: really a multibillion dollar project, so it was in his mind, 88 00:05:27,200 --> 00:05:32,359 Speaker 1: financially wasteful. Secondly, he argued that out of all the 89 00:05:32,440 --> 00:05:36,400 Speaker 1: high speed rail systems that were in operation or proposed, 90 00:05:36,440 --> 00:05:40,760 Speaker 1: it was one of the slowest. So he said, on 91 00:05:40,760 --> 00:05:43,640 Speaker 1: a per mile basis, it's one of the most expensive. 92 00:05:44,200 --> 00:05:47,200 Speaker 1: On a speed basis, it's one of the slowest, So 93 00:05:47,400 --> 00:05:49,320 Speaker 1: why would you want to spend a lot of money 94 00:05:49,360 --> 00:05:53,640 Speaker 1: to not get anywhere fast? He thought that that was 95 00:05:53,760 --> 00:05:57,520 Speaker 1: an incredible waste of time and money, and that it 96 00:05:57,640 --> 00:06:02,120 Speaker 1: wasn't going to solve the issue you of of of 97 00:06:03,400 --> 00:06:07,760 Speaker 1: speeding up travel between major cities, specifically Los Angeles and 98 00:06:07,800 --> 00:06:10,680 Speaker 1: San Francisco, which are quite far apart. If you're not 99 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:14,160 Speaker 1: familiar with California geography, you might think, oh, well, those 100 00:06:14,160 --> 00:06:16,080 Speaker 1: are two cities in the same state, but they are 101 00:06:16,160 --> 00:06:18,200 Speaker 1: hundreds of miles apart from one another. It takes more 102 00:06:18,200 --> 00:06:21,000 Speaker 1: than five hours of driving to get between the two. 103 00:06:21,640 --> 00:06:24,360 Speaker 1: So a high speed rail system would be nice if 104 00:06:24,400 --> 00:06:26,719 Speaker 1: in fact it were high speed. But must argued that 105 00:06:27,320 --> 00:06:30,800 Speaker 1: the the one that was proposed was not nearly fast 106 00:06:30,960 --> 00:06:35,320 Speaker 1: enough to be any more advantageous than just taking a 107 00:06:35,400 --> 00:06:38,200 Speaker 1: flight from Los Angeles to San Francisco, and that there 108 00:06:38,200 --> 00:06:40,920 Speaker 1: had to be a better way. And so he said 109 00:06:40,960 --> 00:06:45,760 Speaker 1: there needed to be a less expensive, safer, faster method 110 00:06:45,920 --> 00:06:50,320 Speaker 1: of getting from San Francisco to Los Angeles or vice versa, 111 00:06:50,360 --> 00:06:55,839 Speaker 1: and that he had the better idea. Now must acknowledge 112 00:06:55,880 --> 00:06:58,839 Speaker 1: that for cities that are really far apart from each other, 113 00:06:58,880 --> 00:07:02,800 Speaker 1: think about a thousand and miles or kilometers or more, 114 00:07:03,360 --> 00:07:07,359 Speaker 1: supersonic air travel is likely the best option, assuming we 115 00:07:07,400 --> 00:07:12,240 Speaker 1: can solve a few major issues with supersonic travel. One 116 00:07:12,280 --> 00:07:15,560 Speaker 1: of those is getting the right airplane geometry to minimize 117 00:07:15,720 --> 00:07:20,120 Speaker 1: sonic booms so that air travel doesn't become massively disruptive 118 00:07:20,120 --> 00:07:22,960 Speaker 1: for the population on the ground. A sonic boom, by 119 00:07:22,960 --> 00:07:27,120 Speaker 1: the way, is when you have uh some mass traveling 120 00:07:27,480 --> 00:07:31,800 Speaker 1: faster than the speed of sound through whatever medium you 121 00:07:31,920 --> 00:07:34,880 Speaker 1: are traveling through. So, in the case of air, depending 122 00:07:34,960 --> 00:07:37,240 Speaker 1: upon air pressure and temperature and that sort of thing, 123 00:07:37,560 --> 00:07:40,720 Speaker 1: if you're traveling faster than the speed of sound, you're 124 00:07:40,760 --> 00:07:44,560 Speaker 1: building up this pressure wave that ends up collapsing in 125 00:07:44,640 --> 00:07:48,440 Speaker 1: on itself after the object passes through that area, and 126 00:07:48,520 --> 00:07:53,080 Speaker 1: that collapse creates this sonic boom. The sonic boom travels 127 00:07:53,480 --> 00:07:56,160 Speaker 1: with the object as it moves through. So if you 128 00:07:56,160 --> 00:07:59,800 Speaker 1: have a supersonic jet traveling overhead, that boom you hear 129 00:07:59,880 --> 00:08:03,840 Speaker 1: is it passes over. It's not just a single boom. 130 00:08:03,880 --> 00:08:08,000 Speaker 1: That boom is actually traveling with the supersonic aircraft as 131 00:08:08,040 --> 00:08:11,600 Speaker 1: long as it is traveling at those incredible speeds. So 132 00:08:12,240 --> 00:08:15,520 Speaker 1: there are companies that are working on building out better 133 00:08:15,600 --> 00:08:18,440 Speaker 1: plane models that can travel at these supersonic speeds while 134 00:08:18,520 --> 00:08:23,040 Speaker 1: minimizing that sonic boom, and they're making some amazing progress. Uh. 135 00:08:23,080 --> 00:08:26,640 Speaker 1: These are include private companies as well as NASA working 136 00:08:26,680 --> 00:08:31,000 Speaker 1: on these designs. So, assuming we get that problem solved, 137 00:08:31,200 --> 00:08:33,760 Speaker 1: Musk says, it's probably going to be the case that 138 00:08:33,840 --> 00:08:37,840 Speaker 1: the most efficient way to travel the most uh the 139 00:08:37,960 --> 00:08:41,719 Speaker 1: cheapest way. Really, it's everything from the amount of time 140 00:08:41,720 --> 00:08:44,080 Speaker 1: you're spending to the amount of money you spend will 141 00:08:44,160 --> 00:08:49,160 Speaker 1: probably be supersonic travel. But for cities that are closer 142 00:08:49,200 --> 00:08:52,000 Speaker 1: together than that but still a good distance away, let's 143 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:57,520 Speaker 1: say like nine hundred miles around kilometers apart from each other, 144 00:08:58,240 --> 00:09:01,920 Speaker 1: you would want a different solution because with a supersonic jet, 145 00:09:02,840 --> 00:09:06,000 Speaker 1: you would reach cruising altitude, and you would only then 146 00:09:06,040 --> 00:09:09,680 Speaker 1: be able to accelerate to supersonic speeds, but you would 147 00:09:09,720 --> 00:09:11,640 Speaker 1: only be doing that for a very short while before 148 00:09:11,640 --> 00:09:14,720 Speaker 1: you had to descend. You would be essentially be up 149 00:09:14,760 --> 00:09:18,280 Speaker 1: and down so fast that you can't really take advantage 150 00:09:18,320 --> 00:09:21,640 Speaker 1: of the supersonic travel part. So it doesn't make sense 151 00:09:21,920 --> 00:09:24,800 Speaker 1: to take a supersonic flight between two cities that are 152 00:09:24,920 --> 00:09:28,680 Speaker 1: nine miles are closer together. What you could do is 153 00:09:28,760 --> 00:09:32,679 Speaker 1: build this hyper loop system in order to travel at 154 00:09:32,679 --> 00:09:36,080 Speaker 1: incredible speeds between those points. And that's where the sweet 155 00:09:36,080 --> 00:09:40,200 Speaker 1: spot is between two cities that are nine miles apart 156 00:09:40,440 --> 00:09:43,640 Speaker 1: or less, and that they have to be two cities 157 00:09:43,640 --> 00:09:45,800 Speaker 1: where you would typically have a lot of heavy travel 158 00:09:45,880 --> 00:09:48,040 Speaker 1: between the two. There's gotta be a lot of traffic. 159 00:09:48,679 --> 00:09:53,680 Speaker 1: So assuming you have that situation, that's where hyper loop, 160 00:09:53,840 --> 00:09:56,800 Speaker 1: he argues, would make a lot of sense. Again, his 161 00:09:56,880 --> 00:10:00,360 Speaker 1: example being Los Angeles and San Francisco, but any major 162 00:10:00,559 --> 00:10:03,640 Speaker 1: metropolitan areas where there's a lot of travel between the 163 00:10:03,720 --> 00:10:08,000 Speaker 1: cities that are at this distance from one another would 164 00:10:08,080 --> 00:10:13,320 Speaker 1: be candidates for this kind of transportation system. Uh. He 165 00:10:13,360 --> 00:10:19,840 Speaker 1: would want this train sort of hybrid system to travel 166 00:10:19,880 --> 00:10:23,800 Speaker 1: at incredible speeds not quite supersonic. We'll get into that. 167 00:10:24,320 --> 00:10:27,240 Speaker 1: This is a system that that consists of an enclosed 168 00:10:27,400 --> 00:10:32,040 Speaker 1: tube or tunnel, and the air pressure inside that tube 169 00:10:32,040 --> 00:10:34,360 Speaker 1: would be low. It would still be present, but it 170 00:10:34,400 --> 00:10:37,320 Speaker 1: would be low. So you would have these giant pumps 171 00:10:37,360 --> 00:10:40,480 Speaker 1: along the tube that would pump out a lot of 172 00:10:40,520 --> 00:10:42,920 Speaker 1: the air. So you have a very low pressure system 173 00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:47,840 Speaker 1: inside the tube that lowers the air resistance considerably, but 174 00:10:48,080 --> 00:10:51,600 Speaker 1: does not create an actual vacuum, so there's still air 175 00:10:51,720 --> 00:10:55,560 Speaker 1: inside the tube. Must acknowledges that the vacuum approach, though 176 00:10:56,040 --> 00:11:00,679 Speaker 1: very effective, it removes air resistance, UH, would be incredibly 177 00:11:00,720 --> 00:11:04,760 Speaker 1: difficult to achieve from an engineering perspective, because even the 178 00:11:04,840 --> 00:11:08,520 Speaker 1: smallest imperfection in the tube would allow air to leak in. 179 00:11:09,320 --> 00:11:12,000 Speaker 1: You know, if you have an extremely low pressure system 180 00:11:12,040 --> 00:11:15,120 Speaker 1: and you've got greater pressure on the outside, obviously any leak, 181 00:11:15,440 --> 00:11:18,679 Speaker 1: any crack is going to allow air to rush in. 182 00:11:18,800 --> 00:11:21,360 Speaker 1: So he says going with a low pressure system would 183 00:11:21,360 --> 00:11:24,800 Speaker 1: make more sense than a vacuum. Uh, it's too difficult 184 00:11:24,840 --> 00:11:27,680 Speaker 1: to maintain a vacuum within a room, much less a 185 00:11:28,040 --> 00:11:33,960 Speaker 1: five hundred mile long loop of tube. In his words, 186 00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:37,000 Speaker 1: so rather than using something like a mag lev system 187 00:11:37,280 --> 00:11:40,880 Speaker 1: magnetic levitation system in which the train would levitate above 188 00:11:40,920 --> 00:11:46,360 Speaker 1: the tunnel floor using electromagnetic repulsion. Musk was proposing using 189 00:11:46,520 --> 00:11:50,320 Speaker 1: air bearings instead, so this would not be a system 190 00:11:50,320 --> 00:11:53,640 Speaker 1: where you use magnets in order to repel one another 191 00:11:53,679 --> 00:11:56,720 Speaker 1: and that would make the capsule float off the floor 192 00:11:56,920 --> 00:12:00,000 Speaker 1: of the tube. Instead, it would be like an air 193 00:12:00,160 --> 00:12:03,000 Speaker 1: hockey table. So if you're not familiar with these, uh, 194 00:12:03,000 --> 00:12:05,640 Speaker 1: an air hockey table is a table that's got a 195 00:12:05,720 --> 00:12:08,840 Speaker 1: surface with tiny pin prick holes in it, and a 196 00:12:08,840 --> 00:12:11,880 Speaker 1: fan under the surface of the table blows air up 197 00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:15,280 Speaker 1: through those holes. You put a little plastic hockey puck 198 00:12:15,400 --> 00:12:17,600 Speaker 1: on top of the table. The air coming up from 199 00:12:17,679 --> 00:12:21,440 Speaker 1: the bottom ends up making the hockey puck glide across 200 00:12:21,520 --> 00:12:25,199 Speaker 1: the table. So that's kind of the principle he had 201 00:12:25,280 --> 00:12:29,319 Speaker 1: for the the hyper loop concept, except instead of having 202 00:12:29,640 --> 00:12:35,360 Speaker 1: the tube generating this air and blowing against the capsule, 203 00:12:36,040 --> 00:12:39,200 Speaker 1: he thought of the capsule having essentially these pin pricks 204 00:12:39,320 --> 00:12:43,080 Speaker 1: at the bottom of the capsule blowing air down, so 205 00:12:43,160 --> 00:12:45,640 Speaker 1: that would be where the capsule would generate some lift. 206 00:12:45,640 --> 00:12:49,240 Speaker 1: It would also generate left through its forward momentum, and 207 00:12:49,360 --> 00:12:53,440 Speaker 1: at the front of this capsule. He wants. He proposed 208 00:12:53,440 --> 00:12:57,400 Speaker 1: putting a pump a fan essentially, because there's still air 209 00:12:57,440 --> 00:13:00,760 Speaker 1: inside the tube. If you didn't have a of moving 210 00:13:00,800 --> 00:13:04,320 Speaker 1: that air around the capsule, you would run into an 211 00:13:04,320 --> 00:13:06,960 Speaker 1: issue where you're compressing the air ahead of you. As 212 00:13:06,960 --> 00:13:09,600 Speaker 1: the capsule moves down the tube, it's pushing a column 213 00:13:09,640 --> 00:13:12,360 Speaker 1: of air, and if the air cannot get around the 214 00:13:12,400 --> 00:13:16,040 Speaker 1: capsule fast enough, you start compressing it and that ends 215 00:13:16,080 --> 00:13:18,640 Speaker 1: up being like an air braking system. It will actually 216 00:13:18,640 --> 00:13:22,360 Speaker 1: slow down and ultimately stop the capsule pushing against it 217 00:13:22,440 --> 00:13:25,360 Speaker 1: in the other direction. So he proposed putting a fan 218 00:13:25,760 --> 00:13:28,600 Speaker 1: in the front of the capsule to pull air in 219 00:13:29,200 --> 00:13:32,120 Speaker 1: partly to allow the capsule to continue moving down the 220 00:13:32,160 --> 00:13:36,160 Speaker 1: tube at speed, but also feeding into an air compressor 221 00:13:36,240 --> 00:13:40,360 Speaker 1: that then would power these air bearings and allow the 222 00:13:40,440 --> 00:13:43,720 Speaker 1: capsule to maintain lift on the bottom of the over 223 00:13:43,760 --> 00:13:46,880 Speaker 1: the top of the tube flooring. And because you're not 224 00:13:46,960 --> 00:13:51,840 Speaker 1: using wheels, you're not losing a lot of energy to friction. Right. 225 00:13:51,960 --> 00:13:53,679 Speaker 1: You've got a little bit of air resistance that you're 226 00:13:53,720 --> 00:13:58,760 Speaker 1: dealing with, but you're not dealing with wheels running against 227 00:13:58,800 --> 00:14:03,239 Speaker 1: a surface, so that loss of energy to friction is minimized. 228 00:14:03,520 --> 00:14:06,240 Speaker 1: It's still there. You still have some air resistance, you 229 00:14:06,280 --> 00:14:10,040 Speaker 1: still have some other elements of friction, but it's greatly reduced. 230 00:14:10,760 --> 00:14:14,800 Speaker 1: So Uh, this approach, he said, was going to be 231 00:14:15,640 --> 00:14:21,240 Speaker 1: an effective engineering solution to the problem. Um, now, what 232 00:14:21,280 --> 00:14:24,880 Speaker 1: about propulsion. The air bearings provide lift, but how does 233 00:14:24,920 --> 00:14:28,800 Speaker 1: the capsule actually move forward? This is where Elon Musk 234 00:14:28,960 --> 00:14:37,240 Speaker 1: was suggesting the external linear electric motor version of of propulsion. So, 235 00:14:38,120 --> 00:14:40,720 Speaker 1: if you know how an electric motor works, let's use 236 00:14:40,760 --> 00:14:43,920 Speaker 1: a very simple version. You've got, let's say, a permanent magnet, 237 00:14:44,880 --> 00:14:49,360 Speaker 1: and you've got some uh, you've got some electromagnet, you know, 238 00:14:49,720 --> 00:14:53,800 Speaker 1: conductive wire, insulated conductive wire. Uh. We're talking more of 239 00:14:53,800 --> 00:14:56,480 Speaker 1: a dynamo than a motor here. And you move the 240 00:14:56,480 --> 00:14:59,720 Speaker 1: permanent magnet so that it's north and south poles or 241 00:14:59,800 --> 00:15:06,120 Speaker 1: road tating and going. The coil of inductive wire is 242 00:15:06,640 --> 00:15:10,320 Speaker 1: then being exposed to a fluctuating magnetic field that's going 243 00:15:10,360 --> 00:15:13,360 Speaker 1: to induce current to flow through the wire. Uh. That also, 244 00:15:13,440 --> 00:15:15,440 Speaker 1: by the way, generates its own electric field, because you 245 00:15:15,480 --> 00:15:20,960 Speaker 1: have electricity voltage essentially applied to this, uh, this conductive wire. 246 00:15:21,520 --> 00:15:23,120 Speaker 1: He's thinking about the same sort of thing, but in 247 00:15:23,120 --> 00:15:26,880 Speaker 1: a linear pathway. So you've got this, uh, this electro 248 00:15:27,240 --> 00:15:31,840 Speaker 1: magnetic force that is pulling and pushing the capsule. You 249 00:15:31,920 --> 00:15:36,560 Speaker 1: have opposite poles magnetic poles attracting one another that's pulling 250 00:15:36,640 --> 00:15:40,600 Speaker 1: the capsule forward. Then you have like poles pushing against 251 00:15:40,600 --> 00:15:42,960 Speaker 1: each other that continues to push the capsule forward. This 252 00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:46,720 Speaker 1: allows you to accelerate the capsule like a railgun. You're 253 00:15:46,800 --> 00:15:50,440 Speaker 1: using the electromagnetic force to accelerate it in a linear motion, 254 00:15:50,880 --> 00:15:54,040 Speaker 1: so it's going straight. The air bearings are what allow 255 00:15:54,080 --> 00:15:57,600 Speaker 1: it to have the lift. The electric motor allows it 256 00:15:57,640 --> 00:16:01,560 Speaker 1: to have the forward momentum. And this was kind of 257 00:16:01,720 --> 00:16:06,400 Speaker 1: his general idea for the infrastructure. As for the capsules themselves, 258 00:16:07,240 --> 00:16:10,720 Speaker 1: his version of it would seat twenty eight passengers per 259 00:16:10,800 --> 00:16:14,240 Speaker 1: passenger capsule. He had a couple of different models of capsule. 260 00:16:14,960 --> 00:16:17,600 Speaker 1: He also proposed a version that would have a slightly 261 00:16:17,680 --> 00:16:20,680 Speaker 1: larger capsules. These would hold up to three full sized 262 00:16:20,720 --> 00:16:23,880 Speaker 1: automobiles and you could have passengers inside the automobile, so 263 00:16:24,240 --> 00:16:26,600 Speaker 1: you could be sitting in a car inside a capsule, 264 00:16:26,840 --> 00:16:29,120 Speaker 1: and that way you would start in your car in 265 00:16:29,280 --> 00:16:31,560 Speaker 1: l a and then thirty five minutes later you'd drive 266 00:16:31,600 --> 00:16:34,920 Speaker 1: out of the capsule. In San Francisco, which would save 267 00:16:34,920 --> 00:16:37,800 Speaker 1: you a ton of time from the normal five hours 268 00:16:37,800 --> 00:16:43,640 Speaker 1: plus of driving. UH. The maximum width for a passenger 269 00:16:43,680 --> 00:16:47,080 Speaker 1: only capsule would be four point four three feet or 270 00:16:47,120 --> 00:16:50,480 Speaker 1: one point three five ms, so not very wide, with 271 00:16:50,560 --> 00:16:52,880 Speaker 1: a height of six point one one feet or one 272 00:16:52,960 --> 00:16:56,000 Speaker 1: point one zero meters, so again not very tall. If 273 00:16:56,000 --> 00:16:58,200 Speaker 1: you're a tall person, you'd be stooping a bit in 274 00:16:58,320 --> 00:17:02,000 Speaker 1: order to move around this cabin. UH doors would either 275 00:17:02,040 --> 00:17:05,119 Speaker 1: be of a goal wing design, meaning like the DeLorean, 276 00:17:05,160 --> 00:17:08,800 Speaker 1: they lift up, or they would be slides so that 277 00:17:08,960 --> 00:17:12,440 Speaker 1: it would allow for easy UH loading and unloading of 278 00:17:12,480 --> 00:17:15,840 Speaker 1: the vehicle. Luggage would go on one of the two 279 00:17:15,960 --> 00:17:18,000 Speaker 1: ends of the vehicle, depending upon where you would put 280 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:19,720 Speaker 1: the rest of the components, so either in the very 281 00:17:19,720 --> 00:17:23,399 Speaker 1: front or the very back, and the weight of the 282 00:17:23,400 --> 00:17:27,520 Speaker 1: passenger capsule without the interior components just the weight of 283 00:17:27,560 --> 00:17:30,560 Speaker 1: all the external parts would be about six thousand, eight 284 00:17:30,600 --> 00:17:34,560 Speaker 1: hundred pounds or three thousand one ms. And Musk estimated 285 00:17:34,560 --> 00:17:38,800 Speaker 1: the cost for each capsule's exterior to be about two 286 00:17:38,840 --> 00:17:42,840 Speaker 1: hundred forty five thousand dollars apiece. Now, all the stuff 287 00:17:42,880 --> 00:17:47,119 Speaker 1: on the inside, like the seats, the door panels, the restraints, 288 00:17:47,160 --> 00:17:52,320 Speaker 1: the various displays would weigh another five thousand, five hundred 289 00:17:52,320 --> 00:17:56,119 Speaker 1: pounds or two thousand, five hundred ms, and it would 290 00:17:56,119 --> 00:17:59,600 Speaker 1: cost another two hundred fifty five thousand dollars. Then they're 291 00:17:59,640 --> 00:18:01,600 Speaker 1: all the other elements to add to the costs, such 292 00:18:01,600 --> 00:18:04,560 Speaker 1: as the propulsion system components that would be in each capsule, 293 00:18:04,680 --> 00:18:08,679 Speaker 1: the air compressor blades, the air bearings, all of this stuff. 294 00:18:08,880 --> 00:18:11,680 Speaker 1: All of that told, Musk estimated that a passenger only 295 00:18:11,720 --> 00:18:16,200 Speaker 1: capsule would cost one million, three hundred fifty thousand dollars 296 00:18:16,200 --> 00:18:20,679 Speaker 1: apiece and have a weight total of fifteen thousand kilograms, 297 00:18:20,760 --> 00:18:22,480 Speaker 1: And he goes on to estimate that you need about 298 00:18:22,920 --> 00:18:26,840 Speaker 1: fifty four million dollars to make enough capsules for the 299 00:18:26,920 --> 00:18:30,000 Speaker 1: hyper loop system he was proposing between Los Angeles and 300 00:18:30,040 --> 00:18:33,919 Speaker 1: San Francisco. Now that's enough capsules where you would have 301 00:18:33,960 --> 00:18:35,879 Speaker 1: them at either end so that you could have a 302 00:18:36,040 --> 00:18:41,520 Speaker 1: consistent uh service between the two cities on any given day. 303 00:18:41,600 --> 00:18:45,000 Speaker 1: So fifty four million dollars for just the capsules, that's 304 00:18:45,040 --> 00:18:48,600 Speaker 1: not too bad. However, that doesn't include the cost of 305 00:18:48,600 --> 00:18:51,560 Speaker 1: the infrastructure. Will get to that if you were traveling 306 00:18:51,600 --> 00:18:55,720 Speaker 1: on that route, how safe would it be? Well, elon Musk, 307 00:18:55,760 --> 00:19:00,080 Speaker 1: again arguing for the system he was proposing, said that 308 00:19:00,119 --> 00:19:03,560 Speaker 1: there'd be a lot of redundant safety features, including maintaining 309 00:19:03,560 --> 00:19:06,720 Speaker 1: a healthy distance between capsules. So between you and the 310 00:19:06,760 --> 00:19:09,720 Speaker 1: next closest capsule would be a gap of twenty three 311 00:19:09,840 --> 00:19:13,760 Speaker 1: miles or thirty seven kilometers on average, which is a 312 00:19:13,760 --> 00:19:17,680 Speaker 1: lot of safety space to prevent collisions between capsules. Still, 313 00:19:18,040 --> 00:19:21,880 Speaker 1: tons of other safety issues that you would have to 314 00:19:21,920 --> 00:19:27,879 Speaker 1: take into account and make sure we're uh prepared for 315 00:19:28,200 --> 00:19:32,119 Speaker 1: so that way you don't have any massive issues. Now, 316 00:19:32,119 --> 00:19:34,840 Speaker 1: according to Musk, the hyper loop would allow for eight 317 00:19:34,920 --> 00:19:39,200 Speaker 1: hundred forty passengers to travel per hour between Los Angeles 318 00:19:39,240 --> 00:19:42,160 Speaker 1: and San Francisco. Now that number could be increased by 319 00:19:42,240 --> 00:19:45,440 Speaker 1: decreasing the amount of departure time between capsules. He was 320 00:19:45,560 --> 00:19:51,199 Speaker 1: envisioning capsules arriving at a station, unloading, loading up, and 321 00:19:51,240 --> 00:19:53,960 Speaker 1: every two minutes you would have a capsule leave either 322 00:19:54,280 --> 00:19:56,840 Speaker 1: l A or San Francisco. Now that that doesn't mean 323 00:19:56,840 --> 00:20:00,280 Speaker 1: that a capsule only spends two minutes per station. You 324 00:20:00,320 --> 00:20:03,280 Speaker 1: would have one station or one capsule arriving at a 325 00:20:03,359 --> 00:20:08,360 Speaker 1: station while another capsule, maybe three capsules ahead, is leaving, 326 00:20:08,640 --> 00:20:11,320 Speaker 1: So you would still have several minutes to unload and 327 00:20:11,400 --> 00:20:15,000 Speaker 1: load each individual capsule before it blasts off and heads 328 00:20:15,040 --> 00:20:20,160 Speaker 1: over to its destination. Uh, these capsules would be going 329 00:20:20,160 --> 00:20:22,879 Speaker 1: pretty darn fast. Musk talks about them hitting speeds of 330 00:20:22,920 --> 00:20:25,960 Speaker 1: seven hundred sixty miles per hour or one thousand, two 331 00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:29,400 Speaker 1: hundred twenty kilometers per hour, which is also known as 332 00:20:29,480 --> 00:20:33,040 Speaker 1: mock point nine one at sixty eight degrees fahrenheit or 333 00:20:33,119 --> 00:20:36,680 Speaker 1: twenty degrees celsius. So you're talking about going nearly as 334 00:20:36,720 --> 00:20:39,440 Speaker 1: fast as the speed of sound, but not actually breaking 335 00:20:39,480 --> 00:20:42,800 Speaker 1: the sound barrier at that speed at those temperatures. And 336 00:20:42,840 --> 00:20:45,440 Speaker 1: again that offers me the opportunity to remind you guys, 337 00:20:45,600 --> 00:20:48,119 Speaker 1: sound travels through the air at a speed that depends 338 00:20:48,320 --> 00:20:51,560 Speaker 1: on other things like air temperature, So you have to 339 00:20:51,560 --> 00:20:53,200 Speaker 1: take that into account when you talk about the speed 340 00:20:53,240 --> 00:20:56,920 Speaker 1: of sound. It's not a constant through all altitudes and temperatures. 341 00:20:56,920 --> 00:20:59,880 Speaker 1: You have to have these other variables in account before 342 00:20:59,880 --> 00:21:02,600 Speaker 1: you can actually talk about the speed of sound, although 343 00:21:02,600 --> 00:21:06,520 Speaker 1: we can usually just assume we're talking about a standard 344 00:21:06,520 --> 00:21:10,359 Speaker 1: temperature when we're usually using that term. Back to the show, 345 00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:13,560 Speaker 1: at that speed, you would be able to make the 346 00:21:13,600 --> 00:21:16,679 Speaker 1: trip between Los Angeles and San Francisco in about thirty 347 00:21:16,720 --> 00:21:19,640 Speaker 1: five minutes, and the high speed rail system would take 348 00:21:19,880 --> 00:21:22,480 Speaker 1: two hours and thirty eight minutes on that same trip. 349 00:21:22,560 --> 00:21:25,840 Speaker 1: So the system that Elon Musk was saying was inefficient, slow, 350 00:21:25,880 --> 00:21:29,919 Speaker 1: and expensive would take two hours thirty eight minutes. Driving 351 00:21:29,960 --> 00:21:32,800 Speaker 1: takes five hours. A plane trip would take a little 352 00:21:32,840 --> 00:21:35,280 Speaker 1: bit more than an hour, like an hour and fifteen minutes. 353 00:21:35,680 --> 00:21:38,680 Speaker 1: So the hyper loop would theoretically be the fastest way 354 00:21:38,680 --> 00:21:41,840 Speaker 1: to get from Los Angeles to San Francisco, assuming it 355 00:21:41,880 --> 00:21:45,600 Speaker 1: works the way Elon Musk imagines. So thirty five minutes 356 00:21:45,680 --> 00:21:50,080 Speaker 1: is a huge amount of time saved going from point 357 00:21:50,080 --> 00:21:52,760 Speaker 1: A to point b. Uh, it would be the fastest 358 00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:55,000 Speaker 1: solution by far. You might wonder what it would be 359 00:21:55,080 --> 00:21:59,440 Speaker 1: like to actually travel inside one of those capsules. According 360 00:21:59,480 --> 00:22:04,880 Speaker 1: to Muss, he imagines that the entire interior would have displays, 361 00:22:04,960 --> 00:22:09,120 Speaker 1: kind of like television displays or computer displays that would 362 00:22:09,400 --> 00:22:13,840 Speaker 1: show a landscape, maybe a model of the landscape that 363 00:22:13,880 --> 00:22:17,359 Speaker 1: you're actually passing through, or maybe it would be something 364 00:22:17,400 --> 00:22:20,600 Speaker 1: else like our space or under the water or some 365 00:22:20,680 --> 00:22:22,480 Speaker 1: other city if you wanted to, Or maybe it would 366 00:22:22,520 --> 00:22:25,320 Speaker 1: just be television, because there's no point in having windows 367 00:22:25,320 --> 00:22:27,600 Speaker 1: your inside and enclosed tube. All you would see is 368 00:22:27,640 --> 00:22:30,200 Speaker 1: the interior of a tube whizzing by at seven miles 369 00:22:30,280 --> 00:22:34,600 Speaker 1: per hour. Using the displays would help you get some 370 00:22:34,640 --> 00:22:39,119 Speaker 1: other sensory input. Uh. There's other interesting questions like would 371 00:22:39,160 --> 00:22:44,080 Speaker 1: this affect your sense of of your your perception of space? 372 00:22:44,280 --> 00:22:48,399 Speaker 1: Like would you feel an emotion sickness due to this 373 00:22:48,480 --> 00:22:51,800 Speaker 1: kind of thing? Uh, that's a question that I don't 374 00:22:51,800 --> 00:22:53,520 Speaker 1: know the answer to you, because as far as I know, 375 00:22:53,600 --> 00:22:57,200 Speaker 1: no one's actually tried it. But it is really interesting. 376 00:22:57,400 --> 00:23:00,000 Speaker 1: Now We've got a lot more to talk about, uh, 377 00:23:00,040 --> 00:23:02,720 Speaker 1: and I'm going to dive into some more details about 378 00:23:02,760 --> 00:23:05,879 Speaker 1: what travel aboard the hyper loop would theoretically be like, 379 00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:07,600 Speaker 1: as well as talk about some of the companies that 380 00:23:07,640 --> 00:23:09,760 Speaker 1: are trying to bring it to life. But before I 381 00:23:09,800 --> 00:23:19,119 Speaker 1: do that, let's take a quick break to thank our sponsor. Now, 382 00:23:19,160 --> 00:23:22,000 Speaker 1: I just mentioned about being inside those capsules and looking 383 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:25,800 Speaker 1: at those displays, and you know, seeing some gorgeous stuff, 384 00:23:25,920 --> 00:23:28,679 Speaker 1: and and that sounds really nice. You would have restraints 385 00:23:28,720 --> 00:23:32,320 Speaker 1: on your your seats because you're talking about accelerating too 386 00:23:32,320 --> 00:23:36,359 Speaker 1: pretty incredible speeds and then eventually decelerating. Now, the ideas 387 00:23:36,359 --> 00:23:39,199 Speaker 1: that you would do this gradually, so you wouldn't be 388 00:23:39,240 --> 00:23:42,160 Speaker 1: experiencing any very powerful G forces. That would also mean 389 00:23:42,200 --> 00:23:44,600 Speaker 1: that the tube itself would not be able to have 390 00:23:44,720 --> 00:23:47,639 Speaker 1: any sharp turns on it, because the amount of G 391 00:23:47,800 --> 00:23:51,320 Speaker 1: force you would experience as a passenger would be too great. 392 00:23:51,600 --> 00:23:57,520 Speaker 1: You would be very much uncomfortable, if not blacking out 393 00:23:57,880 --> 00:24:00,560 Speaker 1: due to those G forces being placed on your if 394 00:24:00,640 --> 00:24:03,439 Speaker 1: you were making sharp turns. So you'd have to have 395 00:24:03,520 --> 00:24:08,080 Speaker 1: very gradual curves to your hyper loop track, and you 396 00:24:08,080 --> 00:24:13,119 Speaker 1: would have to again have this long acceleration and deceleration 397 00:24:13,600 --> 00:24:17,440 Speaker 1: so that you're not placing too much stress on your passengers. 398 00:24:18,040 --> 00:24:19,679 Speaker 1: But let's go back to price for a minute. So 399 00:24:19,720 --> 00:24:21,760 Speaker 1: I talked about the capsules and that they would cost 400 00:24:21,760 --> 00:24:24,399 Speaker 1: a cool fifty four million dollars each, But what about 401 00:24:24,400 --> 00:24:27,600 Speaker 1: the tube itself, Well, Musk said it would be several 402 00:24:27,640 --> 00:24:31,200 Speaker 1: billion dollars. He eventually came up with the figure rough 403 00:24:31,760 --> 00:24:34,840 Speaker 1: Napkin figure of being six billion dollars for a hyper 404 00:24:34,840 --> 00:24:37,919 Speaker 1: loop system, but he adds that this would still be 405 00:24:38,040 --> 00:24:41,040 Speaker 1: less expensive than the high speed rail system to California 406 00:24:41,080 --> 00:24:43,800 Speaker 1: had approved. He said, yeah, it's six billion dollars for 407 00:24:43,880 --> 00:24:47,440 Speaker 1: this hypothetical thing I just made up. But it's many 408 00:24:47,480 --> 00:24:51,840 Speaker 1: more billion dollars for this other thing that exists. So, um, 409 00:24:52,160 --> 00:24:53,840 Speaker 1: you know, it's it's kind of easy to say that 410 00:24:53,880 --> 00:24:57,240 Speaker 1: it's only six billion dollars, only six billion dollars, when 411 00:24:57,640 --> 00:24:59,960 Speaker 1: you have just proposed it and no one said, actual 412 00:25:00,200 --> 00:25:04,080 Speaker 1: build the thing yet. But let's just for argument's sake, 413 00:25:04,160 --> 00:25:06,600 Speaker 1: say that, in fact, it would cost six billion dollars 414 00:25:06,640 --> 00:25:10,720 Speaker 1: to build. Because I don't want to cast aspersions towards 415 00:25:10,720 --> 00:25:13,680 Speaker 1: Elon Musk. I'm just saying that until you build something, 416 00:25:13,720 --> 00:25:16,520 Speaker 1: you really can't say how much it was going to cost, 417 00:25:17,400 --> 00:25:19,800 Speaker 1: not with any real authority. It's only after you've built 418 00:25:19,800 --> 00:25:22,840 Speaker 1: it that you really understand the cost of it. The tube, 419 00:25:22,840 --> 00:25:24,960 Speaker 1: he says, would be made out of steel, and he 420 00:25:25,040 --> 00:25:29,040 Speaker 1: says that you could constructed and prefabricated sections and then 421 00:25:29,320 --> 00:25:31,760 Speaker 1: kind of snap them together, which is being a bit 422 00:25:31,760 --> 00:25:34,000 Speaker 1: flippant on my part. It actually would involve using an 423 00:25:34,080 --> 00:25:38,600 Speaker 1: orbital seam welder to create a seal between each length 424 00:25:38,680 --> 00:25:42,440 Speaker 1: of tube. So you would put in a prefabricated length 425 00:25:42,480 --> 00:25:45,040 Speaker 1: the tube and then you would just seal it to 426 00:25:45,160 --> 00:25:49,199 Speaker 1: the previous one using this orbital seal welder, which kind 427 00:25:49,200 --> 00:25:51,600 Speaker 1: of goes around the entire tube. And make sure that 428 00:25:51,680 --> 00:25:55,560 Speaker 1: they are nice and tightly welded together. And he also 429 00:25:55,600 --> 00:25:58,639 Speaker 1: suggested that these tubes would rest on pylons, so it 430 00:25:58,640 --> 00:26:02,119 Speaker 1: would be an elevated track that would be above or 431 00:26:02,160 --> 00:26:06,440 Speaker 1: really to the side of Interstate five in California, which 432 00:26:06,480 --> 00:26:09,240 Speaker 1: was more or less a direct path between l A 433 00:26:09,320 --> 00:26:12,960 Speaker 1: and San Francisco without too many sharp turns. He says 434 00:26:12,960 --> 00:26:15,400 Speaker 1: that you would have to have a few deviations from 435 00:26:15,400 --> 00:26:18,280 Speaker 1: the highway in order to avoid putting too strong a 436 00:26:18,359 --> 00:26:22,640 Speaker 1: curve in the track, but those deviations would be, in 437 00:26:22,720 --> 00:26:26,920 Speaker 1: his words, minor uh that way, you could avoid putting 438 00:26:26,960 --> 00:26:31,280 Speaker 1: those unacceptable g forces on the bodies of your passengers, which, 439 00:26:31,320 --> 00:26:34,959 Speaker 1: as we have already discussed, would be a bad thing 440 00:26:35,040 --> 00:26:38,760 Speaker 1: to do otherwise. Musk also said that the energy needed 441 00:26:38,800 --> 00:26:41,200 Speaker 1: to power the hyper loop could come from solar panels 442 00:26:41,280 --> 00:26:43,920 Speaker 1: along the top of the tube. Now, according to Musk, 443 00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:47,280 Speaker 1: the panels would be enough be able to generate enough 444 00:26:47,320 --> 00:26:51,400 Speaker 1: electricity to power the entire system and also charge batteries 445 00:26:51,440 --> 00:26:55,000 Speaker 1: that would allow the system to operate even if the 446 00:26:55,040 --> 00:26:58,280 Speaker 1: sun weren't out, so if it were an overcast day, 447 00:26:58,359 --> 00:27:01,040 Speaker 1: which is common in San Francisco, not necessarily so in 448 00:27:01,119 --> 00:27:04,919 Speaker 1: Los Angeles. Or if it were nighttime, you can still 449 00:27:05,160 --> 00:27:08,680 Speaker 1: take the system from LA to San Francisco or San 450 00:27:08,720 --> 00:27:11,639 Speaker 1: Francis Cisco to l A, because you'd have enough battery 451 00:27:11,640 --> 00:27:13,080 Speaker 1: power to keep it going. This is one of the 452 00:27:13,119 --> 00:27:17,160 Speaker 1: reasons why he was arguing for this air bearing system. 453 00:27:17,160 --> 00:27:19,760 Speaker 1: He said, the air bearing system would be less expensive 454 00:27:19,800 --> 00:27:23,440 Speaker 1: than a fully electromagnetic mag lev system, and it would 455 00:27:23,520 --> 00:27:26,520 Speaker 1: consume less power than a mag lev system, so you 456 00:27:26,520 --> 00:27:30,679 Speaker 1: wouldn't have to worry about creating a huge drain on 457 00:27:30,760 --> 00:27:33,520 Speaker 1: the existing power grid. You could have it all self 458 00:27:33,560 --> 00:27:36,520 Speaker 1: powered through these solar panels and batteries. Keep in mind, 459 00:27:36,840 --> 00:27:41,600 Speaker 1: Elon Musk again is behind Tesla, and Tesla's big product 460 00:27:41,680 --> 00:27:45,320 Speaker 1: that's coming out aren't really electric cars. I mean, that's 461 00:27:45,720 --> 00:27:50,320 Speaker 1: the flashy side. It's really the battery solutions that Elon 462 00:27:50,440 --> 00:27:54,240 Speaker 1: Musk is behind. So arguing for a system that would 463 00:27:54,280 --> 00:27:57,760 Speaker 1: rely heavily on battery power also serves his interests to 464 00:27:57,920 --> 00:28:02,760 Speaker 1: some extent. In his paper, must argued that the energy 465 00:28:02,840 --> 00:28:07,040 Speaker 1: per passenger using the hyperlop technology would be less than 466 00:28:07,119 --> 00:28:12,040 Speaker 1: any other form of transportation. Travel by airplane would represent 467 00:28:12,119 --> 00:28:15,800 Speaker 1: the greatest amount of energy expended per traveler per mile, 468 00:28:16,320 --> 00:28:19,480 Speaker 1: so he was saying the hyperlop, based on his calculations, 469 00:28:20,200 --> 00:28:23,080 Speaker 1: would end up being less of an energy drain per 470 00:28:23,119 --> 00:28:28,520 Speaker 1: person per passenger than anything else that includes cars, motorcycles, trains, 471 00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:32,600 Speaker 1: any other system in existence would be more energy per 472 00:28:32,640 --> 00:28:34,800 Speaker 1: passenger to get people from point A to point B 473 00:28:35,640 --> 00:28:40,360 Speaker 1: h compared to his hypothetical hyper loop. And I keep 474 00:28:40,400 --> 00:28:42,720 Speaker 1: saying hypothetical and things of that nature, again not to 475 00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:45,440 Speaker 1: disparage the idea, but just to acknowledge the fact that 476 00:28:45,680 --> 00:28:51,680 Speaker 1: without an actual working system, where we're relying upon theoreticals hypotheticals, 477 00:28:51,680 --> 00:28:54,239 Speaker 1: we're not relying upon actual hard data that we can 478 00:28:54,280 --> 00:28:56,400 Speaker 1: look at and say, oh yeah, in fact, the math 479 00:28:56,520 --> 00:29:02,080 Speaker 1: does work out the right way. Uh. Due to this 480 00:29:02,240 --> 00:29:05,240 Speaker 1: low cost of operation, Musk says that you could charge 481 00:29:05,240 --> 00:29:07,840 Speaker 1: a very reasonable price for tickets on the hyper loop. 482 00:29:08,240 --> 00:29:12,280 Speaker 1: His suggestion for a one way ticket from Los Angeles 483 00:29:12,360 --> 00:29:16,040 Speaker 1: to San Francisco or vice versa, would be twenty dollars 484 00:29:16,760 --> 00:29:19,400 Speaker 1: for a thirty five minute trip between the two cities. 485 00:29:19,680 --> 00:29:22,719 Speaker 1: He says charging twenty dollars per ticket for twenty years 486 00:29:22,760 --> 00:29:26,320 Speaker 1: would offset the six billion dollar estimated cost of constructing 487 00:29:26,320 --> 00:29:30,240 Speaker 1: the whole shebang, which is pretty incredible. I mean, it's 488 00:29:30,320 --> 00:29:32,520 Speaker 1: making a lot of assumptions, again that you would have 489 00:29:32,680 --> 00:29:37,960 Speaker 1: enough of a passenger base to be busy and charge 490 00:29:37,960 --> 00:29:40,600 Speaker 1: at twenty dollars, and that you're patient enough to take 491 00:29:40,640 --> 00:29:44,640 Speaker 1: twenty years to pay off this investment. But if it's correct, 492 00:29:44,840 --> 00:29:47,920 Speaker 1: that is amazing. Twenty dollars would be a steal compared 493 00:29:47,960 --> 00:29:50,480 Speaker 1: to an airplane ticket or even a ticket on the 494 00:29:50,520 --> 00:29:54,080 Speaker 1: California Train because that high speed rail train they were 495 00:29:54,080 --> 00:29:57,360 Speaker 1: talking about much more expensive tickets than twenty bucks a 496 00:29:57,440 --> 00:30:03,960 Speaker 1: person for a one way ticket. Uh. Again, without having 497 00:30:04,160 --> 00:30:07,720 Speaker 1: all of the math done, we can't be sure that 498 00:30:07,880 --> 00:30:11,440 Speaker 1: twenty years would be enough time to recapture the cost 499 00:30:11,560 --> 00:30:14,920 Speaker 1: of construction. I don't know if that also builds in 500 00:30:15,040 --> 00:30:19,480 Speaker 1: any potential maintenance costs that surely would come up over 501 00:30:19,520 --> 00:30:23,160 Speaker 1: those times. But he claimed that twenty dollars a seat 502 00:30:23,480 --> 00:30:26,400 Speaker 1: that would do it. A couple of notable companies have 503 00:30:26,480 --> 00:30:29,200 Speaker 1: formed to try and bring this vision to life, and 504 00:30:29,280 --> 00:30:32,120 Speaker 1: one of those is hyper Loop one. So let's take 505 00:30:32,160 --> 00:30:35,320 Speaker 1: some time to talk about this company because it's got 506 00:30:35,400 --> 00:30:40,080 Speaker 1: some stories behind it. So there's an entrepreneur named Shervin 507 00:30:40,240 --> 00:30:44,720 Speaker 1: Pishamar who first talked to Musk in January two thousand thirteen. 508 00:30:44,760 --> 00:30:49,360 Speaker 1: I remember it was August when Musk announced this idea 509 00:30:49,560 --> 00:30:52,640 Speaker 1: of the hyper loop, and they were traveling to Cuba, 510 00:30:52,640 --> 00:30:56,880 Speaker 1: and apparently during this trip, Musk talked about this hyper 511 00:30:56,880 --> 00:31:01,600 Speaker 1: loop concept and Shervin was really interested in it, and 512 00:31:01,640 --> 00:31:05,560 Speaker 1: he even said later on that Musk should go public 513 00:31:05,640 --> 00:31:09,440 Speaker 1: with this idea. So, according to the hyper Loop one 514 00:31:09,600 --> 00:31:13,400 Speaker 1: web page, it was Shervin who convinced Elon Musk to 515 00:31:13,720 --> 00:31:18,560 Speaker 1: publish that white paper and talk about this. After Musk's announcement, 516 00:31:19,280 --> 00:31:22,160 Speaker 1: Servin gathered a team together to form the startup hyper 517 00:31:22,160 --> 00:31:24,480 Speaker 1: Loop one. Now, if you go to hyper Loop one's 518 00:31:24,520 --> 00:31:27,160 Speaker 1: website and you look at this team, it includes some 519 00:31:27,280 --> 00:31:31,840 Speaker 1: names on there. There's Jim Messina, there's Joe Lonsdale, David Sachs, 520 00:31:32,200 --> 00:31:35,840 Speaker 1: and Peter Diamandis. But there's one name you will not 521 00:31:36,040 --> 00:31:38,959 Speaker 1: find on the hyper Loop one website, but he was 522 00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:43,040 Speaker 1: among the founders, and that's the name Brogan bam Brogan. 523 00:31:44,200 --> 00:31:48,320 Speaker 1: So Brogan bam Brogan, formally known as Kevin Brogan, was 524 00:31:48,360 --> 00:31:52,360 Speaker 1: an engineer who worked at SpaceX, and of course that's 525 00:31:52,400 --> 00:31:55,800 Speaker 1: the private space exploration company. He married a woman named 526 00:31:55,920 --> 00:31:59,360 Speaker 1: Bambi lieu In and the two decided that they would 527 00:31:59,440 --> 00:32:02,960 Speaker 1: merge their aims together, so it was kind of forming 528 00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:05,840 Speaker 1: a new name by combining their names. That's where he 529 00:32:05,880 --> 00:32:11,120 Speaker 1: got Brogan bam Brogan, which I think is endurable. And 530 00:32:11,200 --> 00:32:14,680 Speaker 1: he became the chief technology officer for hyper Loop one. 531 00:32:15,120 --> 00:32:19,200 Speaker 1: But then things seemed to go very wrong, and we 532 00:32:19,280 --> 00:32:21,480 Speaker 1: don't know the full story, but we do know about 533 00:32:21,520 --> 00:32:23,960 Speaker 1: the lawsuits, so I can tell you what the lawsuit said. 534 00:32:24,360 --> 00:32:26,840 Speaker 1: According to bam Brogan and a few of his colleagues, 535 00:32:27,360 --> 00:32:31,120 Speaker 1: things went sour at the corporate level at hyper Loop one. 536 00:32:31,360 --> 00:32:34,760 Speaker 1: So you've got this company that is trying to create 537 00:32:34,840 --> 00:32:38,280 Speaker 1: the actual technology that Elon Musk was talking about. Meanwhile, 538 00:32:38,520 --> 00:32:41,600 Speaker 1: according to bam Brogan, there were some shenanigans going on 539 00:32:41,640 --> 00:32:45,959 Speaker 1: at the corporate level. He alleged that the company leaders 540 00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:50,120 Speaker 1: were being wasteful, that they were blowing through investor money 541 00:32:50,200 --> 00:32:53,600 Speaker 1: on things that weren't necessary or that were fraudulent in 542 00:32:53,720 --> 00:32:58,720 Speaker 1: his eyes, and he also claimed that the corporate leadership 543 00:32:58,880 --> 00:33:01,160 Speaker 1: was engaging in Nepa. His m that they were hiring 544 00:33:01,200 --> 00:33:05,040 Speaker 1: on friends and family for things that they weren't necessarily 545 00:33:05,160 --> 00:33:08,080 Speaker 1: qualified for, or that there might have been more qualified 546 00:33:08,480 --> 00:33:11,680 Speaker 1: candidates out there that were being ignored. In favor of 547 00:33:11,720 --> 00:33:15,600 Speaker 1: these folks. He also accused Pischavar of using stock options 548 00:33:15,600 --> 00:33:18,720 Speaker 1: as leverage to get what he wanted from employees, essentially 549 00:33:18,960 --> 00:33:22,560 Speaker 1: holding it over their heads. Uh as both a stick 550 00:33:22,560 --> 00:33:25,120 Speaker 1: and a carrot at the same time. So, in other words, 551 00:33:25,320 --> 00:33:28,560 Speaker 1: these were a whole series of really ugly all allegations 552 00:33:28,560 --> 00:33:31,160 Speaker 1: and accusations. Beam Brogan then says that he and some 553 00:33:31,240 --> 00:33:35,200 Speaker 1: of his colleagues voiced their objections and concerns and then 554 00:33:35,240 --> 00:33:39,360 Speaker 1: they were all met with repercussions. They were met with punishments. 555 00:33:39,600 --> 00:33:42,400 Speaker 1: Beam Brogan was met with a threatening gesture. Specifically, he 556 00:33:42,440 --> 00:33:46,120 Speaker 1: says that Pischavar left a rope nodded in a noose 557 00:33:46,480 --> 00:33:50,520 Speaker 1: on bam Brogan's desk, and there's some security footage that 558 00:33:50,640 --> 00:33:54,240 Speaker 1: seemed to potentially back up bam Brogan's accusation. There's a 559 00:33:54,320 --> 00:33:57,880 Speaker 1: man who you know, they say was pish of our 560 00:33:58,360 --> 00:34:00,920 Speaker 1: and he's clearly holding some rope, although you can't necessarily 561 00:34:00,960 --> 00:34:03,800 Speaker 1: see if it's a noose or not, but still, if 562 00:34:03,800 --> 00:34:08,280 Speaker 1: that is true, it's a pretty ugly move of intimidation. 563 00:34:08,360 --> 00:34:12,279 Speaker 1: It's not your typical corporate behavior unless you're salesperson trying 564 00:34:12,280 --> 00:34:16,120 Speaker 1: to move property in Glengarry Glenn Ross style. Always be 565 00:34:16,200 --> 00:34:20,719 Speaker 1: closing guys, always be closing well. Ben Brogan then said 566 00:34:20,719 --> 00:34:22,960 Speaker 1: that one of his colleagues was fired in front of 567 00:34:23,040 --> 00:34:26,400 Speaker 1: his own family the next day and another one was demoted, 568 00:34:26,719 --> 00:34:29,200 Speaker 1: and that bam Brogan himself was encouraged to take a 569 00:34:29,280 --> 00:34:32,279 Speaker 1: leave of absence from the company, so he responded with 570 00:34:32,320 --> 00:34:36,920 Speaker 1: a lawsuit. Hyper Loop One's response was also accusatory. The 571 00:34:37,000 --> 00:34:40,319 Speaker 1: company lawyer said that the lawsuit was quote unfortunate and 572 00:34:40,360 --> 00:34:44,319 Speaker 1: delusional end quote, and also claimed that bam Brogan had 573 00:34:44,360 --> 00:34:47,360 Speaker 1: been trying to undermine Bishamar and was actually trying to 574 00:34:47,400 --> 00:34:51,920 Speaker 1: do a corporate coup and and change the leadership through 575 00:34:52,200 --> 00:34:55,600 Speaker 1: some other form of corporate leverage. And so there were 576 00:34:55,719 --> 00:34:59,680 Speaker 1: accusations flying on both sides now. In November six news 577 00:34:59,719 --> 00:35:02,319 Speaker 1: broke that the two parties had settled this lawsuit out 578 00:35:02,360 --> 00:35:07,200 Speaker 1: of court for uh an unreported sum, so no one 579 00:35:07,440 --> 00:35:10,920 Speaker 1: was talking about how much money changed hands. According to 580 00:35:10,960 --> 00:35:15,120 Speaker 1: a statement from bam Brogan's lawyers, uh It's said this quote, 581 00:35:15,440 --> 00:35:17,840 Speaker 1: My clients are pleased to announce they have reached a 582 00:35:17,920 --> 00:35:21,759 Speaker 1: confidential resolution of litigation with their former employer and look 583 00:35:21,800 --> 00:35:24,880 Speaker 1: forward to moving on with their future plans end quote. 584 00:35:25,520 --> 00:35:28,360 Speaker 1: Bam Brogan, by the way, recently founded his own company 585 00:35:28,400 --> 00:35:32,359 Speaker 1: called Arrivo, with its headquarters apparently less than one mile 586 00:35:32,480 --> 00:35:35,640 Speaker 1: away from hyper Loop one's offices, So that's got to 587 00:35:35,680 --> 00:35:38,880 Speaker 1: be awkward if you're ever in traffic. Arrivo is also 588 00:35:38,960 --> 00:35:41,640 Speaker 1: in the hyper loop design game, so they're getting in 589 00:35:41,640 --> 00:35:44,520 Speaker 1: that space. According to bam Brogan, his new company has 590 00:35:44,560 --> 00:35:48,560 Speaker 1: a quote unique take end quote on the hyper loop concept. 591 00:35:48,880 --> 00:35:52,279 Speaker 1: No idea what that means. Meanwhile, back at hyper Loop one, 592 00:35:52,320 --> 00:35:55,359 Speaker 1: the company was installing a They installed a fifty ft long, 593 00:35:55,400 --> 00:35:58,799 Speaker 1: twelve ft wide structure called the Big Tube. Now this 594 00:35:58,880 --> 00:36:00,960 Speaker 1: was not a hyper loop to tube. It was a 595 00:36:00,960 --> 00:36:04,719 Speaker 1: testing facility. It was meant to create low pressure environments 596 00:36:04,719 --> 00:36:09,200 Speaker 1: to test things like seals in test tracks, test tubes. 597 00:36:09,520 --> 00:36:12,399 Speaker 1: Not a test tube, but a tube that they were 598 00:36:12,440 --> 00:36:15,480 Speaker 1: testing to make sure that it was constructed properly. So 599 00:36:15,600 --> 00:36:17,880 Speaker 1: it was a testing facility, not a hyperlop tube on 600 00:36:17,920 --> 00:36:21,000 Speaker 1: its own. And the hyper loop one approach doesn't use 601 00:36:21,080 --> 00:36:24,439 Speaker 1: air bearings the way Musk's design did. Instead, it did 602 00:36:24,600 --> 00:36:27,360 Speaker 1: use mag lev as the means to suspend capsules in 603 00:36:27,360 --> 00:36:31,480 Speaker 1: the tube. So they went with the electromagnetic levitation route uh, 604 00:36:31,680 --> 00:36:34,600 Speaker 1: so it requires a bit more power, more than a 605 00:36:34,640 --> 00:36:38,440 Speaker 1: bit more power than the hyperloop one or hyperloop concept 606 00:36:38,440 --> 00:36:43,000 Speaker 1: that Elon Musk was first chatting about back in In December, 607 00:36:43,760 --> 00:36:47,040 Speaker 1: hyper loop one built the APEX Test and Safety site 608 00:36:47,719 --> 00:36:50,760 Speaker 1: outside of Las Vegas, Nevada that would become the testing 609 00:36:50,800 --> 00:36:56,920 Speaker 1: ground for prototype hyperloop infrastructure and capsules, and on May eleven, sixteen, 610 00:36:57,000 --> 00:37:00,200 Speaker 1: the company hosted a Propulsion System Open Air test or 611 00:37:00,320 --> 00:37:05,200 Speaker 1: p o a t POPE or poe AT. In this test, 612 00:37:05,200 --> 00:37:07,400 Speaker 1: a hyper loop sled accelerated to a top speed of 613 00:37:07,400 --> 00:37:09,840 Speaker 1: a hundred thirty six miles per hour in two point 614 00:37:09,880 --> 00:37:13,840 Speaker 1: two seconds. That's an incredible acceleration. The test was to 615 00:37:13,880 --> 00:37:16,239 Speaker 1: see if the acceleration motor would work properly, so they 616 00:37:16,239 --> 00:37:18,640 Speaker 1: weren't trying to accelerate up to top speed. A hundred 617 00:37:18,640 --> 00:37:20,880 Speaker 1: thirty six miles per hour is nowhere close to the 618 00:37:20,920 --> 00:37:24,200 Speaker 1: top speed of what their capsules would ultimately take. The 619 00:37:24,239 --> 00:37:26,960 Speaker 1: company also announced a global challenge to find the best 620 00:37:27,000 --> 00:37:30,520 Speaker 1: hyperloop projects in the world. Hyper Loop one has proposed 621 00:37:30,520 --> 00:37:33,399 Speaker 1: a system that would link Helsinki and Stockholm together, which 622 00:37:33,400 --> 00:37:37,320 Speaker 1: would be pretty nifty, and in August the company began 623 00:37:37,360 --> 00:37:41,120 Speaker 1: construction on the Development Loop or DEVL loop in Nevada. 624 00:37:41,400 --> 00:37:44,960 Speaker 1: This was the first full scale hyperloop test track, and 625 00:37:45,040 --> 00:37:49,360 Speaker 1: November of the first section of the DEVL loop was installed. 626 00:37:49,400 --> 00:37:54,480 Speaker 1: It was called Fixity, and in January hyper Loop announced 627 00:37:54,520 --> 00:37:58,319 Speaker 1: that thirty five semifinalists had been u had been had 628 00:37:58,360 --> 00:38:01,440 Speaker 1: reached the global challenge, so they got down to thirty 629 00:38:01,440 --> 00:38:04,800 Speaker 1: five semifinalists and these were proposals that would link various 630 00:38:04,800 --> 00:38:09,400 Speaker 1: cities together to create hyperloop routes. On March seven, twenty seventeen, 631 00:38:09,520 --> 00:38:13,080 Speaker 1: the DEVL loop construction was completed, and on May twelve, 632 00:38:13,160 --> 00:38:16,640 Speaker 1: twenty seventeen, the first full scale hyperloop test was conducted. 633 00:38:17,160 --> 00:38:22,560 Speaker 1: On July twelve, twenty seventeen, Hyperloop unveiled a prototype aero shell. 634 00:38:22,719 --> 00:38:25,000 Speaker 1: This is the outer hole of the capsules that would 635 00:38:25,000 --> 00:38:26,879 Speaker 1: be in its system, and it's kind of nifty looking. 636 00:38:26,920 --> 00:38:29,200 Speaker 1: You should take a look at the picture of it. Sadly, 637 00:38:29,320 --> 00:38:31,520 Speaker 1: this is an audio podcast and I cannot show you one. 638 00:38:32,360 --> 00:38:37,080 Speaker 1: On July seventeen, they tested out a vehicle that traveled 639 00:38:37,120 --> 00:38:40,000 Speaker 1: down the full length of the five me DEVL loop track, 640 00:38:40,080 --> 00:38:42,719 Speaker 1: accelerating for three and then gliding the rest of the 641 00:38:42,760 --> 00:38:45,440 Speaker 1: way again at fives you're not going to get to 642 00:38:45,480 --> 00:38:48,080 Speaker 1: your full speed. You just can't, but you can test 643 00:38:48,120 --> 00:38:51,560 Speaker 1: out the various systems to make sure that the concept 644 00:38:51,600 --> 00:38:54,680 Speaker 1: behind them does in fact work. The company wants to 645 00:38:54,719 --> 00:38:58,200 Speaker 1: have three production systems working by one, which is pretty 646 00:38:58,239 --> 00:39:02,840 Speaker 1: ambitious so highper loop one. It's probably the furthest along 647 00:39:02,960 --> 00:39:05,360 Speaker 1: out of all the different hyper loop companies, and it 648 00:39:05,840 --> 00:39:09,440 Speaker 1: inadvertently spawned a second one or Evo, but it is 649 00:39:09,480 --> 00:39:12,080 Speaker 1: not the only one. There are other hyper loop companies 650 00:39:12,080 --> 00:39:15,200 Speaker 1: out there and they're all competing at this I'll talk 651 00:39:15,200 --> 00:39:20,120 Speaker 1: about another one in just a second, called Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, 652 00:39:21,080 --> 00:39:23,520 Speaker 1: and it's really interesting to see people jump on this 653 00:39:23,920 --> 00:39:28,960 Speaker 1: again in an area that hasn't had proven success. That's 654 00:39:29,200 --> 00:39:32,920 Speaker 1: not to discourage them, but it kind of shows how 655 00:39:32,960 --> 00:39:37,560 Speaker 1: Elon Musk has this amazing ability to inspire people to 656 00:39:37,640 --> 00:39:41,239 Speaker 1: take chances without necessarily being able to show that you 657 00:39:41,280 --> 00:39:44,400 Speaker 1: can have a return on them. People have talked about 658 00:39:44,440 --> 00:39:49,720 Speaker 1: Tesla Motors struggling to be profitable while they are clearly 659 00:39:49,880 --> 00:39:53,919 Speaker 1: creating products and people have a strong desire to own them. 660 00:39:54,280 --> 00:39:57,640 Speaker 1: The company as it stands is one of those that 661 00:39:57,880 --> 00:40:03,040 Speaker 1: is always striving or profit but hasn't emerged as an 662 00:40:03,120 --> 00:40:06,640 Speaker 1: enormously profitable company. So for Elon Musk to continue to 663 00:40:06,680 --> 00:40:09,520 Speaker 1: go forward and make these bold proclamations and have people 664 00:40:09,600 --> 00:40:12,239 Speaker 1: not just take it to heart but then pour their 665 00:40:12,280 --> 00:40:15,319 Speaker 1: own money and investments and resources into trying to make 666 00:40:15,360 --> 00:40:21,719 Speaker 1: it come to pass, that's a pretty insanely awesome thing 667 00:40:21,800 --> 00:40:25,920 Speaker 1: to be able to do. Uh I can't convince people 668 00:40:26,800 --> 00:40:31,360 Speaker 1: to give me a seat on the subway, so although 669 00:40:31,360 --> 00:40:33,360 Speaker 1: I find that if I talk to myself a lot 670 00:40:33,480 --> 00:40:36,879 Speaker 1: and argue, I often end up with a seat all 671 00:40:36,920 --> 00:40:41,120 Speaker 1: to myself. But I think that might require that doesn't 672 00:40:41,160 --> 00:40:44,239 Speaker 1: rely so much on charisma as it does just social awkwardness. 673 00:40:46,120 --> 00:40:48,200 Speaker 1: All right, when we get back, I'm going to talk 674 00:40:48,239 --> 00:40:51,719 Speaker 1: a little bit about hyper loop uh more, you know, 675 00:40:51,719 --> 00:40:55,760 Speaker 1: the hyper loop transportation technologies, as well as Elon Musk's 676 00:40:56,080 --> 00:40:59,520 Speaker 1: attempt to get into the hyper loop game himself. But 677 00:40:59,560 --> 00:41:02,560 Speaker 1: I really wanted to cover that weird controversy of hyper 678 00:41:02,600 --> 00:41:04,439 Speaker 1: loop one first and get that out of the way. 679 00:41:05,080 --> 00:41:07,359 Speaker 1: We'll come back in just a moment, but first let's 680 00:41:07,360 --> 00:41:17,279 Speaker 1: take a quick break to thank our sponsor. Okay, let's 681 00:41:17,280 --> 00:41:20,560 Speaker 1: talk about hyper loop transportation technologies for a second. This is, 682 00:41:20,600 --> 00:41:23,120 Speaker 1: like I said, was the other big startup to come 683 00:41:23,160 --> 00:41:27,920 Speaker 1: out shortly after Elon Musk's announcement. Arriva was new to 684 00:41:27,920 --> 00:41:31,239 Speaker 1: the scene, but hyper loop transportation technologies and Hyperloop one 685 00:41:31,239 --> 00:41:34,520 Speaker 1: have been around for a while. So this company is 686 00:41:34,560 --> 00:41:37,120 Speaker 1: also using mag lev technology, but in this case it's 687 00:41:37,280 --> 00:41:41,560 Speaker 1: passive mag lev, not active mag lev. Now that means 688 00:41:42,120 --> 00:41:44,480 Speaker 1: that part of the system, the system that would actually 689 00:41:44,560 --> 00:41:51,120 Speaker 1: be lining the the tubes, is just unempowered coils of 690 00:41:51,239 --> 00:41:55,239 Speaker 1: conductive wire, and so you're not putting any electricity through 691 00:41:55,280 --> 00:41:59,120 Speaker 1: them and are not acting as electro magnets on their own. Uh. 692 00:41:59,280 --> 00:42:02,600 Speaker 1: This method was pioneered by a physicist named Richard Post 693 00:42:02,960 --> 00:42:06,239 Speaker 1: and the concept itself ends up getting a little complicated, 694 00:42:06,600 --> 00:42:08,560 Speaker 1: So I'm not going to dive too far into it 695 00:42:08,600 --> 00:42:11,080 Speaker 1: because it would require almost a full episode all on 696 00:42:11,120 --> 00:42:15,000 Speaker 1: its own. But basically, what you have are these various 697 00:42:15,040 --> 00:42:18,920 Speaker 1: coils of conductive wire, and then you take these magnets 698 00:42:18,960 --> 00:42:21,799 Speaker 1: and you put them in a specific configuration so that 699 00:42:21,840 --> 00:42:25,200 Speaker 1: their polls are lined up in a very specific way 700 00:42:25,760 --> 00:42:29,080 Speaker 1: with respect to one another. And I'm I'm glossing over 701 00:42:29,120 --> 00:42:31,200 Speaker 1: this because again, to get into real details, we'd have 702 00:42:31,280 --> 00:42:34,680 Speaker 1: to dive into physics pretty deeply. If you pass this 703 00:42:35,040 --> 00:42:39,759 Speaker 1: array of magnets over the coils of conductive wire. It 704 00:42:39,840 --> 00:42:44,640 Speaker 1: induces uh a charge to flow through those those coils, 705 00:42:45,320 --> 00:42:48,839 Speaker 1: and that in turn creates an electromagnetic field. The key 706 00:42:48,880 --> 00:42:50,960 Speaker 1: to this is you have to get the capsule up 707 00:42:51,000 --> 00:42:54,080 Speaker 1: to a certain speed before this will happen. But once 708 00:42:54,080 --> 00:42:57,280 Speaker 1: you do get to that speed, then you are able 709 00:42:57,320 --> 00:43:01,200 Speaker 1: to achieve magnetic levitation with a passive system. So you 710 00:43:01,200 --> 00:43:04,600 Speaker 1: don't have to send any electricity through that that those 711 00:43:04,600 --> 00:43:07,720 Speaker 1: coils of wire that would line the the hyperloop tube. 712 00:43:08,080 --> 00:43:10,400 Speaker 1: That means that you're saving a lot on energy. You 713 00:43:10,480 --> 00:43:15,400 Speaker 1: just have to have the right UH systems aboard the 714 00:43:15,440 --> 00:43:19,120 Speaker 1: actual capsule, but you don't have to power the whole 715 00:43:19,520 --> 00:43:23,399 Speaker 1: tube itself, so that cuts down on your electricity needs. 716 00:43:23,400 --> 00:43:27,040 Speaker 1: It also cuts down on the cost of operation, so 717 00:43:27,360 --> 00:43:30,279 Speaker 1: you end up being able to pass the savings onto 718 00:43:31,000 --> 00:43:35,680 Speaker 1: maybe the consumer, or maybe you're just pocketing a whole 719 00:43:35,760 --> 00:43:39,320 Speaker 1: lot of extra profit. But it's a really cool form 720 00:43:39,400 --> 00:43:42,920 Speaker 1: of magnetic levitation. UH. The cool thing about it also 721 00:43:43,000 --> 00:43:45,720 Speaker 1: is that in the case of some sort of problem 722 00:43:45,840 --> 00:43:47,919 Speaker 1: that there is some sort of power loss on board 723 00:43:48,040 --> 00:43:52,840 Speaker 1: the capsule. For example, the the capsule will start to 724 00:43:52,880 --> 00:43:56,720 Speaker 1: coast and it once it dips below a certain speed 725 00:43:57,200 --> 00:44:02,040 Speaker 1: a threshold, then it will not be able to create 726 00:44:02,400 --> 00:44:06,200 Speaker 1: the electro magnetic field or won't be able to induce 727 00:44:06,239 --> 00:44:11,120 Speaker 1: the electromagnetic field from these coils of wire, and the 728 00:44:11,160 --> 00:44:13,840 Speaker 1: capsule will come to arrest on the bottom of the 729 00:44:13,880 --> 00:44:16,440 Speaker 1: tube floor. So in a way, it's kind of a 730 00:44:16,440 --> 00:44:20,080 Speaker 1: safety measure because in a catastrophic failure, the capsules are 731 00:44:20,120 --> 00:44:22,799 Speaker 1: all going to slow down on their own and then 732 00:44:22,920 --> 00:44:26,480 Speaker 1: gradually come to arrest because just by the act of 733 00:44:26,520 --> 00:44:30,800 Speaker 1: slowing down, they can no longer remain above the tube floor. 734 00:44:32,120 --> 00:44:36,840 Speaker 1: Hyperloops hyper Loop Technologies leadership team includes Dirk all Born 735 00:44:37,080 --> 00:44:39,759 Speaker 1: who is a co founder of jump Starter Incorporated, and 736 00:44:39,840 --> 00:44:43,799 Speaker 1: Bebop g Gresta, who is another entrepreneur, and both of 737 00:44:43,840 --> 00:44:47,120 Speaker 1: them have extensive experience and starting and funding ventures, So 738 00:44:47,160 --> 00:44:49,960 Speaker 1: these are people who are used to starting up big 739 00:44:50,000 --> 00:44:55,640 Speaker 1: companies or getting funding for big companies. They have agreements 740 00:44:55,680 --> 00:45:00,840 Speaker 1: with lots of different cities, including cities in South Korea, Indonesia, 741 00:45:00,960 --> 00:45:05,800 Speaker 1: and France. In Czech Republic, In the UH they have 742 00:45:05,840 --> 00:45:08,759 Speaker 1: an agreement with Abu Dhabi UH. There's an agreement in 743 00:45:08,800 --> 00:45:12,400 Speaker 1: Slovakia all to construct hyperloop systems in the future. But 744 00:45:12,480 --> 00:45:16,480 Speaker 1: all of this is really early on obviously, so it's 745 00:45:16,560 --> 00:45:22,120 Speaker 1: the earliest phases of the hyperloop game from that aspect. 746 00:45:22,800 --> 00:45:27,360 Speaker 1: Now recently, as of the recording of this podcast, Elon 747 00:45:27,480 --> 00:45:32,480 Speaker 1: Musk has actually decided to get into this game himself. 748 00:45:32,680 --> 00:45:35,280 Speaker 1: So when he first announced this back in two thousand thirteen, 749 00:45:35,320 --> 00:45:38,160 Speaker 1: he did so as it as an open source project, 750 00:45:38,239 --> 00:45:42,520 Speaker 1: meaning that he was allowing anyone to take this idea 751 00:45:42,600 --> 00:45:45,239 Speaker 1: and run with it and alter it in any way 752 00:45:45,239 --> 00:45:47,719 Speaker 1: they wanted to in order to build the sort of 753 00:45:47,719 --> 00:45:51,920 Speaker 1: systems that he had in mind. So he was saying, look, 754 00:45:51,960 --> 00:45:53,719 Speaker 1: I've got this great idea, but I don't have time 755 00:45:53,760 --> 00:45:56,000 Speaker 1: for this. I'm going into space and putting people in 756 00:45:56,080 --> 00:46:01,120 Speaker 1: electric vehicles and other stuff. Uh. Being an international man 757 00:46:01,120 --> 00:46:04,439 Speaker 1: of mystery, perhaps I don't know. I don't have time 758 00:46:04,480 --> 00:46:07,080 Speaker 1: to get into this as well, So someone else do it. Well, 759 00:46:07,080 --> 00:46:08,720 Speaker 1: now he's saying, you know what, I think I'm gonna 760 00:46:08,760 --> 00:46:13,520 Speaker 1: do this, And he has said that he's getting into 761 00:46:13,680 --> 00:46:17,320 Speaker 1: this as well. And in fact SpaceX has been working 762 00:46:17,440 --> 00:46:21,800 Speaker 1: on building out a tube that would be not not 763 00:46:22,000 --> 00:46:25,360 Speaker 1: quite hyperlop, but is sort of a stepping stone toward 764 00:46:25,680 --> 00:46:29,439 Speaker 1: hyperloop technologies, and they've talked about also building a hyper 765 00:46:29,480 --> 00:46:33,360 Speaker 1: loop test facility in Texas. So part of this involves 766 00:46:33,400 --> 00:46:37,480 Speaker 1: a new company that Elon Musk announced, the TBC Company 767 00:46:37,600 --> 00:46:42,359 Speaker 1: or the Boring Company insert tons of pun jokes here. 768 00:46:43,080 --> 00:46:45,400 Speaker 1: The boring company in this case does not mean a 769 00:46:45,440 --> 00:46:48,200 Speaker 1: company that is uninteresting and we'll put you to sleep, 770 00:46:48,280 --> 00:46:51,200 Speaker 1: although it may also do that. It is talking about 771 00:46:51,200 --> 00:46:55,600 Speaker 1: a company that bores holes into the earth or tunneling purposes. 772 00:46:56,160 --> 00:47:00,200 Speaker 1: So it uses boring machines, machines that bore a hole 773 00:47:00,320 --> 00:47:04,560 Speaker 1: into the ground so that you can build out tunnels. Now, 774 00:47:04,600 --> 00:47:08,759 Speaker 1: they didn't build the boring machines, they bought them. In fact, 775 00:47:09,120 --> 00:47:11,239 Speaker 1: as far as I know, they only have one right now, 776 00:47:11,280 --> 00:47:15,279 Speaker 1: and it is named good And they decided to name 777 00:47:15,360 --> 00:47:21,799 Speaker 1: their machines after literary characters and figures, so Goodo being 778 00:47:21,840 --> 00:47:25,640 Speaker 1: from Beckett's play Waiting for Godot and uh. I don't 779 00:47:25,680 --> 00:47:28,400 Speaker 1: know if that's a commentary about literature, about whether or 780 00:47:28,440 --> 00:47:31,320 Speaker 1: not literature is supposed to be boring. I hope it isn't. 781 00:47:31,480 --> 00:47:33,600 Speaker 1: I was a literature major in college, and I would 782 00:47:33,640 --> 00:47:37,000 Speaker 1: find that deeply insulting. Not that I think Elon Musk 783 00:47:37,000 --> 00:47:40,080 Speaker 1: would really care about that, but still, come on, Ellen, 784 00:47:40,600 --> 00:47:45,719 Speaker 1: be a nice guy. So these machines would bore tunnels 785 00:47:45,920 --> 00:47:52,239 Speaker 1: into the earth, presumably for a either an underground transportation 786 00:47:52,280 --> 00:47:55,080 Speaker 1: system within a city that would not be hyper loop. Instead, 787 00:47:55,080 --> 00:47:59,719 Speaker 1: it would use electric skates. Imagine slot cars. If you've 788 00:47:59,719 --> 00:48:02,279 Speaker 1: ever played with a slot car system where you've got 789 00:48:02,320 --> 00:48:05,600 Speaker 1: these little cars and they fit into a slot. They 790 00:48:05,600 --> 00:48:08,080 Speaker 1: snap into a slot on a track, and then use 791 00:48:08,120 --> 00:48:10,920 Speaker 1: a little controller and you can make the car zoom 792 00:48:10,920 --> 00:48:15,040 Speaker 1: around the track. It's not dissimilar to that. Instead of 793 00:48:15,320 --> 00:48:18,359 Speaker 1: slot cars, you would have these sleds that would be 794 00:48:18,480 --> 00:48:23,399 Speaker 1: attached to this underground tunnel system, and what you would 795 00:48:23,440 --> 00:48:26,160 Speaker 1: do is, if you wanted to travel across town, you 796 00:48:26,160 --> 00:48:29,680 Speaker 1: would drive your car onto a platform of some sort 797 00:48:29,719 --> 00:48:32,680 Speaker 1: that would lower you down onto one of these sleds, 798 00:48:33,200 --> 00:48:35,160 Speaker 1: and then you would put the car in park and 799 00:48:35,160 --> 00:48:37,560 Speaker 1: then the sled would zoom off, So it's like you're 800 00:48:37,560 --> 00:48:40,880 Speaker 1: in a parking space that is moving. The sled itself 801 00:48:40,920 --> 00:48:43,520 Speaker 1: can move through the tunnels, and it can even join 802 00:48:43,600 --> 00:48:46,719 Speaker 1: in two tunnels that have existing sleds already moving through 803 00:48:46,760 --> 00:48:50,879 Speaker 1: it using UH software. So it's essentially like an autonomous car, 804 00:48:51,360 --> 00:48:54,760 Speaker 1: except instead of the car being autonomous, it's the sled itself. 805 00:48:54,880 --> 00:48:57,600 Speaker 1: It's programmed to know where you want to be dropped off, 806 00:48:58,400 --> 00:49:01,360 Speaker 1: and it picks you up, takes you through the tunnel system, 807 00:49:01,480 --> 00:49:03,759 Speaker 1: drops you off wherever you need to go, and it 808 00:49:03,800 --> 00:49:05,640 Speaker 1: can do so at a very high speed, at least 809 00:49:05,640 --> 00:49:09,680 Speaker 1: according to Musk's design, like a twenty miles per hours, 810 00:49:09,680 --> 00:49:13,280 Speaker 1: so pretty fast. And again this is for intercity travel 811 00:49:13,800 --> 00:49:16,799 Speaker 1: from one point in a city to another. And the 812 00:49:16,840 --> 00:49:20,560 Speaker 1: reason for this, Musk says, is to alleviate traffic issues. 813 00:49:20,600 --> 00:49:23,480 Speaker 1: He says, there are only two solutions you have to 814 00:49:23,680 --> 00:49:28,040 Speaker 1: alleviating traffic ultimately in big urban centers, and that is 815 00:49:28,080 --> 00:49:30,640 Speaker 1: either to go up in the case of flying cars, 816 00:49:31,080 --> 00:49:33,799 Speaker 1: or to go down in the case of tunneling. And 817 00:49:33,800 --> 00:49:35,879 Speaker 1: he says, by tunneling, you can create this whole three 818 00:49:35,880 --> 00:49:39,360 Speaker 1: dimensional transportation system that can get you anywhere within a 819 00:49:39,400 --> 00:49:45,000 Speaker 1: city super super fast, uh, avoiding street traffic. So it's 820 00:49:45,000 --> 00:49:48,280 Speaker 1: an interesting idea. Well, that was what the boring company 821 00:49:48,280 --> 00:49:50,279 Speaker 1: was supposed to be. But he also said, oh and 822 00:49:50,400 --> 00:49:52,839 Speaker 1: also you could if you wanted to, you know, dig 823 00:49:52,920 --> 00:49:56,200 Speaker 1: hyper loop tunnels. So remember originally he had talked about 824 00:49:56,280 --> 00:49:59,480 Speaker 1: hyper loop being a tube on top of pylons, but 825 00:49:59,520 --> 00:50:01,760 Speaker 1: now he's all so talking about the possibility of building 826 00:50:01,880 --> 00:50:05,120 Speaker 1: a hyperloop that would be subterranean. You would go down 827 00:50:05,680 --> 00:50:10,160 Speaker 1: a couple dozen feet, and then you would dig a 828 00:50:10,200 --> 00:50:15,560 Speaker 1: tunnel to UH to house this hyper loop tube and 829 00:50:15,640 --> 00:50:18,239 Speaker 1: you would go through that way. He says that you know, 830 00:50:18,320 --> 00:50:22,680 Speaker 1: this would be less expensive than other tunneling companies, largely 831 00:50:22,760 --> 00:50:28,560 Speaker 1: because he's thinking of building one way travel tubes, so 832 00:50:28,640 --> 00:50:32,080 Speaker 1: instead of it being a double wide tunnel, it would 833 00:50:32,080 --> 00:50:33,719 Speaker 1: be single wide. He says, they would have to be 834 00:50:33,800 --> 00:50:37,319 Speaker 1: only fourteen feet wide compared to your standard tunnels, which 835 00:50:37,320 --> 00:50:40,000 Speaker 1: are twice that length, and that would speed things up 836 00:50:40,080 --> 00:50:43,040 Speaker 1: and make them less expensive. By speed things up. I 837 00:50:43,040 --> 00:50:46,280 Speaker 1: think he's talking in relative terms because your average boring 838 00:50:46,360 --> 00:50:49,640 Speaker 1: machine moves slower than a snail's pace. And that's not 839 00:50:50,239 --> 00:50:56,879 Speaker 1: an exaggeration, that's legit. They actually move slower than snails move. Now, 840 00:50:57,160 --> 00:50:59,920 Speaker 1: Elon Musk wants to use this potentially to build this 841 00:51:00,080 --> 00:51:02,840 Speaker 1: hyper loop system, and he tweeted not long ago in 842 00:51:04,280 --> 00:51:08,120 Speaker 1: that he had received quote verbal approval and the quote 843 00:51:08,160 --> 00:51:10,879 Speaker 1: from the White House to build out a hyper loop 844 00:51:10,920 --> 00:51:13,920 Speaker 1: system that would connect DC to New York City and 845 00:51:13,960 --> 00:51:17,600 Speaker 1: also potentially connect other cities like Baltimore and Philadelphia within 846 00:51:17,640 --> 00:51:24,040 Speaker 1: this loop. So verbal commitment isn't a contract. There are 847 00:51:24,080 --> 00:51:27,080 Speaker 1: lots of other layers that any sort of agreement would 848 00:51:27,120 --> 00:51:29,879 Speaker 1: have to go through before you could actually build out 849 00:51:30,000 --> 00:51:35,600 Speaker 1: such a system. We're talking state level, we're talking city level, 850 00:51:35,640 --> 00:51:39,720 Speaker 1: county level. There are tons of different layers that stand 851 00:51:39,760 --> 00:51:42,319 Speaker 1: in the way of building out the system, and a 852 00:51:42,440 --> 00:51:48,400 Speaker 1: verbal agreement doesn't really hold up as anything really firm. 853 00:51:48,600 --> 00:51:51,520 Speaker 1: So we still have a long way to go. But 854 00:51:51,760 --> 00:51:55,120 Speaker 1: if Elon Musk has his way, he would end up 855 00:51:55,160 --> 00:51:58,160 Speaker 1: building out this system on the East Eastern seaboard, and 856 00:51:58,200 --> 00:52:01,399 Speaker 1: you would have a way of getting UM Washington, d C. 857 00:52:01,560 --> 00:52:05,400 Speaker 1: To New York City in less than an hour going 858 00:52:05,480 --> 00:52:07,680 Speaker 1: more than six hundred miles per hour on one of 859 00:52:07,719 --> 00:52:12,640 Speaker 1: these hyperloop trains. UM Obviously, we're still in the early days. 860 00:52:13,239 --> 00:52:15,839 Speaker 1: Back in when we talked about this the first time, 861 00:52:15,840 --> 00:52:18,280 Speaker 1: it was all very conceptual and no one had really 862 00:52:18,360 --> 00:52:22,319 Speaker 1: built anything, not even a testing facility. Yet today we 863 00:52:22,360 --> 00:52:24,719 Speaker 1: can say that there are testing facilities out there and 864 00:52:24,719 --> 00:52:28,120 Speaker 1: they're showing some promising results. We still don't know exactly 865 00:52:28,120 --> 00:52:30,680 Speaker 1: how expensive it will be to build out these systems, 866 00:52:30,760 --> 00:52:35,360 Speaker 1: or how much interference or or resistance they might encounter 867 00:52:35,560 --> 00:52:40,480 Speaker 1: at a political level, there haven't been enough studies on 868 00:52:40,600 --> 00:52:46,680 Speaker 1: the safety of such systems or potential environmental impact. I'm 869 00:52:46,719 --> 00:52:49,040 Speaker 1: still curious to find out about how all these systems 870 00:52:49,040 --> 00:52:52,399 Speaker 1: will be powered. If Elon musk system can in fact 871 00:52:52,440 --> 00:52:55,760 Speaker 1: be powered by solar power, if he does a subterranean version, 872 00:52:56,280 --> 00:53:00,640 Speaker 1: is he going to align the upper level with solar 873 00:53:00,680 --> 00:53:03,319 Speaker 1: panels to power this hyper loop or will it in 874 00:53:03,360 --> 00:53:06,640 Speaker 1: fact draw its electricity from some other source. We don't 875 00:53:06,640 --> 00:53:10,359 Speaker 1: have any details for these to answer these questions as 876 00:53:10,400 --> 00:53:13,560 Speaker 1: it stands, so I'm sure assuming that tech stuff is 877 00:53:13,600 --> 00:53:17,640 Speaker 1: still alive and kicking in the future, when hyperloop either 878 00:53:18,040 --> 00:53:21,120 Speaker 1: becomes a reality or is abandoned altogether, we can revisit 879 00:53:21,160 --> 00:53:25,800 Speaker 1: this again and talk about what did happen, what didn't happen, 880 00:53:25,880 --> 00:53:28,719 Speaker 1: what went right, what went wrong. I can say that 881 00:53:28,880 --> 00:53:31,439 Speaker 1: I want it to succeed. I want this to be 882 00:53:31,840 --> 00:53:35,279 Speaker 1: something that works. I want to see cities connected in 883 00:53:35,280 --> 00:53:38,800 Speaker 1: this way where you can have very fast, convenient travel. 884 00:53:38,960 --> 00:53:40,880 Speaker 1: I want to see it at a price where the 885 00:53:40,920 --> 00:53:43,279 Speaker 1: average person could in fact take advantage of it. If 886 00:53:43,320 --> 00:53:45,920 Speaker 1: it's twenty dollars a ticket ends up being a reality, 887 00:53:46,719 --> 00:53:49,200 Speaker 1: I think that's great. A lot of people have suggested 888 00:53:49,239 --> 00:53:52,200 Speaker 1: that perhaps the expenses would be much greater than what 889 00:53:52,200 --> 00:53:55,680 Speaker 1: what's anticipated, and therefore the price per ticket would be 890 00:53:55,880 --> 00:54:01,439 Speaker 1: way way higher, which means you ultimately create a transportation 891 00:54:01,520 --> 00:54:04,719 Speaker 1: system for rich people, and rich people, while they can 892 00:54:04,760 --> 00:54:07,360 Speaker 1: afford to take it, there's not enough of them to 893 00:54:07,440 --> 00:54:11,960 Speaker 1: support an entire transportation system on their own. You have 894 00:54:12,040 --> 00:54:16,319 Speaker 1: to have something that can have the volume of passengers 895 00:54:16,360 --> 00:54:20,239 Speaker 1: needed to keep it going with that flow of revenue. Ah. 896 00:54:20,360 --> 00:54:23,759 Speaker 1: Otherwise you're just gonna have a very expensive toy that 897 00:54:23,880 --> 00:54:25,920 Speaker 1: ends up getting a little bit of use out of 898 00:54:25,920 --> 00:54:30,000 Speaker 1: the gate, and then overtime winds down because there's just 899 00:54:30,040 --> 00:54:33,360 Speaker 1: not enough financial support. Even if all the technology works, 900 00:54:33,800 --> 00:54:37,480 Speaker 1: the economics might not work. And that's the interesting thing 901 00:54:37,520 --> 00:54:40,520 Speaker 1: about tech is that sometimes all your parts are working 902 00:54:40,600 --> 00:54:44,759 Speaker 1: just fine, it's just they're not working enough. I've got 903 00:54:44,760 --> 00:54:46,680 Speaker 1: a lot more to say, but before i get into 904 00:54:46,719 --> 00:54:57,040 Speaker 1: the next part, let's take a quick break. All right, 905 00:54:57,160 --> 00:54:59,440 Speaker 1: Let's do a where are they now? Run down on 906 00:54:59,520 --> 00:55:02,280 Speaker 1: some of the that we chatted about in that episode 907 00:55:02,280 --> 00:55:05,880 Speaker 1: and something we didn't really chat about because their stories 908 00:55:05,920 --> 00:55:08,880 Speaker 1: had not yet begun. In two thousand seventeen, with regard 909 00:55:08,920 --> 00:55:13,279 Speaker 1: to hyper loop, brogan bam Brogan, I mentioned they had 910 00:55:13,320 --> 00:55:17,520 Speaker 1: the company Arivo. Well that that's no more. That's how 911 00:55:17,640 --> 00:55:21,360 Speaker 1: quickly things can move in this space. Um. In seventeen, 912 00:55:21,360 --> 00:55:23,279 Speaker 1: I was talking about a brand new company, and in 913 00:55:23,360 --> 00:55:27,760 Speaker 1: twenty two that company is long gone now. Arrivo initially 914 00:55:27,840 --> 00:55:31,680 Speaker 1: landed a government deal in Colorado and proposed conducting a 915 00:55:31,760 --> 00:55:36,440 Speaker 1: feasibility study for building out a hyper loop like transportation 916 00:55:36,480 --> 00:55:39,640 Speaker 1: system in the city of Denver, and it would use 917 00:55:39,719 --> 00:55:44,840 Speaker 1: pods rather than like train cars. And the description usually 918 00:55:44,840 --> 00:55:48,279 Speaker 1: said like you would drive up onto what would effectively 919 00:55:48,320 --> 00:55:52,279 Speaker 1: be a sled that would hold your vehicle, and you 920 00:55:52,280 --> 00:55:54,879 Speaker 1: would travel through the system in your vehicle on this 921 00:55:54,880 --> 00:55:59,840 Speaker 1: sled which would levitate above the the track. So you 922 00:56:00,120 --> 00:56:01,680 Speaker 1: drive your car into one of those pods and then 923 00:56:01,719 --> 00:56:04,600 Speaker 1: get whisked off to your destination, for example, the airport, 924 00:56:04,960 --> 00:56:07,560 Speaker 1: and you would avoid traffic congestion along the way and 925 00:56:07,600 --> 00:56:11,919 Speaker 1: get there in minutes. But by the end of one year, 926 00:56:12,160 --> 00:56:15,360 Speaker 1: after the episode you just heard had been recorded, or 927 00:56:15,400 --> 00:56:18,680 Speaker 1: EVO ran out of money and shut down, and you 928 00:56:18,800 --> 00:56:21,920 Speaker 1: might wonder what kind of progress the company had made 929 00:56:22,000 --> 00:56:24,560 Speaker 1: on that whole building out you know, a test track 930 00:56:24,640 --> 00:56:28,319 Speaker 1: and conducting a feasibility study Well, the answer to that 931 00:56:28,440 --> 00:56:31,920 Speaker 1: is that no construction ever broke ground on a test track. 932 00:56:32,160 --> 00:56:35,320 Speaker 1: The company was not able to complete its feasibility study, 933 00:56:35,800 --> 00:56:39,560 Speaker 1: and Wired reported that there wasn't even evidence that the 934 00:56:39,600 --> 00:56:43,280 Speaker 1: company had created a proof of concept model at any scale, 935 00:56:44,000 --> 00:56:48,120 Speaker 1: So it just didn't happen. Now that being said, I 936 00:56:48,200 --> 00:56:51,160 Speaker 1: don't think it was a hoax or a scam. For 937 00:56:51,239 --> 00:56:54,720 Speaker 1: one thing, the government deal was for two thou dollars. 938 00:56:55,000 --> 00:56:56,680 Speaker 1: Now that is a lot of money. If you were 939 00:56:56,719 --> 00:57:00,040 Speaker 1: to offer me two hut dollars the little cash and 940 00:57:00,120 --> 00:57:03,000 Speaker 1: what would pop up in my eyeballs. But for a 941 00:57:03,040 --> 00:57:07,680 Speaker 1: tech startup, it's nothing. Two dollars. You've burned through that 942 00:57:07,719 --> 00:57:10,600 Speaker 1: in a month. You can make way more than that 943 00:57:10,680 --> 00:57:13,719 Speaker 1: if you were trying to hustle a scam by peddling 944 00:57:13,719 --> 00:57:16,000 Speaker 1: it in Silicon Valley, if that was your goal, If 945 00:57:16,000 --> 00:57:19,000 Speaker 1: your goal was to scam people out of money, you'd 946 00:57:19,040 --> 00:57:22,200 Speaker 1: make way more money doing that. So I really do 947 00:57:22,280 --> 00:57:25,200 Speaker 1: think this was a sincere effort. It just it fizzled 948 00:57:25,200 --> 00:57:27,920 Speaker 1: out once the challenges of actually building these things out 949 00:57:27,960 --> 00:57:31,960 Speaker 1: in the real world became more apparent. Now I recently 950 00:57:31,960 --> 00:57:35,680 Speaker 1: saw Bam Brogan's name in another news report, this one 951 00:57:35,760 --> 00:57:39,400 Speaker 1: was from tech Crunch, which was published an article saying 952 00:57:39,440 --> 00:57:43,160 Speaker 1: that the former Hyperloop Technologies co founder is serving as 953 00:57:43,160 --> 00:57:47,560 Speaker 1: an advisor to a startup called Craft Aerospace, and Craft 954 00:57:47,560 --> 00:57:51,440 Speaker 1: Aerospace has proposed the construction and operation of a fleet 955 00:57:51,520 --> 00:57:56,200 Speaker 1: of vertical takeoff and landing aircraft meant to transport people across, 956 00:57:56,800 --> 00:58:00,200 Speaker 1: you know, relatively small regions such as between Sanford go 957 00:58:00,320 --> 00:58:03,360 Speaker 1: in Los Angeles, So essentially kind of filling that same 958 00:58:04,120 --> 00:58:08,560 Speaker 1: niche as what hyper Loop was being pitched as um 959 00:58:08,720 --> 00:58:13,600 Speaker 1: fascinating technology. By the way, their vital technology uses a 960 00:58:13,640 --> 00:58:16,360 Speaker 1: totally different approach than say the osprey, which is a 961 00:58:16,360 --> 00:58:21,320 Speaker 1: good thing because the osprey is not very reliable. But uh, 962 00:58:21,480 --> 00:58:23,840 Speaker 1: that's for another episode. So folks are still trying to 963 00:58:23,880 --> 00:58:25,720 Speaker 1: figure out how to get between the Bay Area and 964 00:58:25,800 --> 00:58:28,360 Speaker 1: La La Land efficiently. That appears to be like the 965 00:58:28,440 --> 00:58:32,520 Speaker 1: metric that we use now. According to his LinkedIn Bam 966 00:58:32,600 --> 00:58:36,480 Speaker 1: Brogan is currently involved in a company called Jicks Jocks. 967 00:58:36,600 --> 00:58:40,200 Speaker 1: That's j I x j O X Jicks Chocks Design 968 00:58:40,200 --> 00:58:44,240 Speaker 1: Group in fact, and that company has described on LinkedIn 969 00:58:44,440 --> 00:58:48,600 Speaker 1: as a company that quote designs and builds rad objects 970 00:58:48,680 --> 00:58:52,360 Speaker 1: for the human experience. We design and fabricate with innovative 971 00:58:52,360 --> 00:58:57,160 Speaker 1: technologies and using state of the art processes, materials, and codings, 972 00:58:57,400 --> 00:59:00,280 Speaker 1: often in applications outside of what they were created. Four 973 00:59:00,880 --> 00:59:06,520 Speaker 1: love rad, Live rad stay rad end quote. I could 974 00:59:06,600 --> 00:59:09,040 Speaker 1: not have made that up if I tried. I did 975 00:59:09,240 --> 00:59:11,400 Speaker 1: try and go to the company's website, but I got 976 00:59:11,400 --> 00:59:18,280 Speaker 1: a too many requests error, so I I don't know anyway. 977 00:59:18,520 --> 00:59:21,080 Speaker 1: As for the company that was formerly known as hyper 978 00:59:21,080 --> 00:59:24,680 Speaker 1: Loop one and even before that hyper Loop Technologies, uh, 979 00:59:24,880 --> 00:59:27,920 Speaker 1: the Virgin Group, Richard Branson's company formed a partnership with 980 00:59:27,960 --> 00:59:31,040 Speaker 1: hyper Loop one and the company rebranded as Virgin hyper 981 00:59:31,040 --> 00:59:36,080 Speaker 1: Loop one, but in it rebranded again, this time becoming 982 00:59:36,280 --> 00:59:39,680 Speaker 1: Virgin hyper Loop, though some journalists still call it Virgin 983 00:59:39,760 --> 00:59:42,680 Speaker 1: hyper Loop one, which is interesting. But by that time 984 00:59:42,800 --> 00:59:46,880 Speaker 1: Richard Branson had had joined and then subsequently left the 985 00:59:46,920 --> 00:59:51,240 Speaker 1: board of directors, so he came and went. The company 986 00:59:51,280 --> 00:59:54,760 Speaker 1: conducted several test runs of its technology, including some with 987 00:59:54,880 --> 00:59:59,160 Speaker 1: actual passengers inside a train. Now, they did not get 988 00:59:59,200 --> 01:00:03,520 Speaker 1: anywhere close those to the top speeds that the hyper 989 01:00:03,520 --> 01:00:07,360 Speaker 1: loop was, you know, being touted as capable of, Like, 990 01:00:07,400 --> 01:00:09,400 Speaker 1: there wasn't anywhere close to six hundred miles per hour, 991 01:00:10,480 --> 01:00:14,720 Speaker 1: but they were demonstrating that it could work with people 992 01:00:14,920 --> 01:00:17,880 Speaker 1: and that they would be safe. So that did happen, 993 01:00:18,040 --> 01:00:20,680 Speaker 1: but it's not been a smooth ride for the company. 994 01:00:20,880 --> 01:00:23,600 Speaker 1: Rob Lloyd, who had served as the CEO for hyper 995 01:00:23,600 --> 01:00:26,480 Speaker 1: Loop for three years, left to be replaced by a 996 01:00:26,480 --> 01:00:29,160 Speaker 1: guy named Jay Walder. This happened in two thousand and eighteen. 997 01:00:29,760 --> 01:00:34,240 Speaker 1: Walder left the company in early one, apparently due to 998 01:00:34,480 --> 01:00:39,840 Speaker 1: some disagreement between him and presumably the board regarding company strategy. 999 01:00:40,200 --> 01:00:44,440 Speaker 1: Josh Gigel, who was an original hyper Loop Technologies engineer. 1000 01:00:44,480 --> 01:00:47,520 Speaker 1: In fact, he talks about being a co founder of 1001 01:00:47,520 --> 01:00:50,760 Speaker 1: the company that he was one of the original team members. Uh. 1002 01:00:50,800 --> 01:00:55,160 Speaker 1: He became the new CEO in early but he stuck 1003 01:00:55,160 --> 01:00:57,440 Speaker 1: around his head honcho for less than a year. He 1004 01:00:57,600 --> 01:01:01,960 Speaker 1: left the company in October of one, meaning that at 1005 01:01:01,960 --> 01:01:05,640 Speaker 1: that point the last original co founder of hyper Loop 1006 01:01:05,880 --> 01:01:10,960 Speaker 1: had left the company. Raja Narayanan is the company's chief 1007 01:01:10,960 --> 01:01:15,800 Speaker 1: financial officer and is serving as an interim CEO. Other 1008 01:01:15,840 --> 01:01:20,880 Speaker 1: executives who have bailed on Virgin hyper Loop include Sebastian Vigneron, 1009 01:01:21,080 --> 01:01:25,080 Speaker 1: who headed up product development, Brian Gallmer, who was the 1010 01:01:25,080 --> 01:01:28,960 Speaker 1: head of engineering, and Aaron Kearns, the head of operations. 1011 01:01:29,000 --> 01:01:32,960 Speaker 1: They all left. It's generally not seen as a positive 1012 01:01:33,000 --> 01:01:37,480 Speaker 1: sign when several top executives leave your organization. Uh, but 1013 01:01:37,560 --> 01:01:40,080 Speaker 1: you know, I don't have any insider information on what's 1014 01:01:40,080 --> 01:01:43,160 Speaker 1: going on with Virgin hyper Loop. According to The Telegraph, 1015 01:01:43,560 --> 01:01:46,200 Speaker 1: Virgin hyper Loop rep has said the company currently plans 1016 01:01:46,240 --> 01:01:51,040 Speaker 1: to concentrate on supply chain logistics rather than serve as 1017 01:01:51,080 --> 01:01:55,080 Speaker 1: a passenger transportation company. Now, that seems like an odd reversal, 1018 01:01:55,160 --> 01:01:58,480 Speaker 1: considering Hyperloop not so long ago was really promoting its 1019 01:01:58,480 --> 01:02:02,760 Speaker 1: passenger tests and it even released a concept video last summer. 1020 01:02:02,800 --> 01:02:05,760 Speaker 1: And I think, like June about what it would be 1021 01:02:05,800 --> 01:02:09,280 Speaker 1: like to travel as a passenger aboard a future hyperloop train. 1022 01:02:10,400 --> 01:02:13,959 Speaker 1: But maybe the passenger plans are just on the back 1023 01:02:14,000 --> 01:02:16,520 Speaker 1: burner for now, and it may well be because of 1024 01:02:16,560 --> 01:02:19,600 Speaker 1: the various administrative and legal obstacles that stand in the 1025 01:02:19,600 --> 01:02:24,440 Speaker 1: way of building out full infrastructure for passenger transportation. I 1026 01:02:24,480 --> 01:02:29,240 Speaker 1: think this is yet again a great reminder that you 1027 01:02:29,280 --> 01:02:32,400 Speaker 1: can create technology that technically can do what you wanted 1028 01:02:32,400 --> 01:02:35,160 Speaker 1: to do, Like you could find the technological solutions to 1029 01:02:35,200 --> 01:02:41,080 Speaker 1: achieve your goals. But it's possible that you know, that's 1030 01:02:41,120 --> 01:02:43,480 Speaker 1: just a tiny sliver of the effort you're going to 1031 01:02:43,600 --> 01:02:46,880 Speaker 1: have to do in order to bring your vision to reality, 1032 01:02:46,920 --> 01:02:51,240 Speaker 1: that all the restless stuff ends up being way more 1033 01:02:51,240 --> 01:02:54,560 Speaker 1: difficult than you anticipated, and that even though you've solved 1034 01:02:54,560 --> 01:02:58,200 Speaker 1: some of the technological, you know, challenges, you still have 1035 01:02:58,440 --> 01:03:02,640 Speaker 1: everything else to deal with, like regulations and laws and 1036 01:03:02,760 --> 01:03:06,120 Speaker 1: environmental studies and all that kind of stuff, and that 1037 01:03:06,120 --> 01:03:12,160 Speaker 1: that is where you're gonna encounter incredibly difficult challenges uh 1038 01:03:12,200 --> 01:03:15,600 Speaker 1: to overcome. You know. It's it's all that stuff. It's 1039 01:03:15,640 --> 01:03:18,760 Speaker 1: infrastructure is hard, right, It's there's a reason why it 1040 01:03:18,880 --> 01:03:23,320 Speaker 1: took decades to build out infrastructure that we still rely 1041 01:03:23,440 --> 01:03:26,920 Speaker 1: upon today. And you know, we we end up spending 1042 01:03:26,960 --> 01:03:30,720 Speaker 1: huge amounts of money repairing ancient infrastructure rather than building 1043 01:03:30,760 --> 01:03:34,000 Speaker 1: out new stuff because we know it's hard. It requires 1044 01:03:34,440 --> 01:03:39,160 Speaker 1: enormous investments in time, money, and effort, and not every 1045 01:03:39,160 --> 01:03:41,800 Speaker 1: company is really up for that. Now, that doesn't mean 1046 01:03:41,840 --> 01:03:44,800 Speaker 1: I think that Virgin hyperloop is never going to be 1047 01:03:44,960 --> 01:03:48,439 Speaker 1: transporting people, or that some other hyperloop based company isn't 1048 01:03:48,480 --> 01:03:51,400 Speaker 1: going to do it either. It may very well happen. 1049 01:03:51,840 --> 01:03:54,000 Speaker 1: I just think it's a case where people are learning 1050 01:03:54,200 --> 01:03:57,800 Speaker 1: very hard lessons along the way. All Right, I hope 1051 01:03:57,840 --> 01:04:00,520 Speaker 1: you enjoyed that update to an episode. I hope all 1052 01:04:00,560 --> 01:04:03,200 Speaker 1: of you are well. I'm doing as well as I 1053 01:04:03,280 --> 01:04:08,320 Speaker 1: possibly can. I'm actually out of breath. So fun times 1054 01:04:08,320 --> 01:04:11,560 Speaker 1: with COVID. If you have any suggestions for future topics 1055 01:04:11,680 --> 01:04:13,840 Speaker 1: of tech stuff, please reach out to me on Twitter, 1056 01:04:14,320 --> 01:04:17,480 Speaker 1: uh the Handles, text Stuff hs W. Maybe you just 1057 01:04:17,480 --> 01:04:19,680 Speaker 1: want to say hi and say I hope you get better. 1058 01:04:20,080 --> 01:04:23,960 Speaker 1: That would be great too, because I gotta tell you, 1059 01:04:24,160 --> 01:04:29,320 Speaker 1: isolating in a single room sucks. But hope you folks 1060 01:04:29,320 --> 01:04:32,439 Speaker 1: are well and I will talk to you again really soon. 1061 01:04:37,640 --> 01:04:40,680 Speaker 1: Text Stuff is an I Heart Radio production. For more 1062 01:04:40,760 --> 01:04:44,160 Speaker 1: podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, 1063 01:04:44,280 --> 01:04:47,440 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.