WEBVTT - The SxSW Roundup Show 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:07.160 Brought to you by Toyota. Let's go places. Welcome to 0:00:07.360 --> 0:00:15.440 Forward Thinking. He there, and welcome to Forward Thinking, the 0:00:15.560 --> 0:00:18.120 podcast that looks to the future and says, all right, 0:00:18.200 --> 0:00:21.400 this one goes out to our producer Noel. I woke up. 0:00:21.480 --> 0:00:24.480 I saw a Texas dawn light shining in your eyes. 0:00:24.960 --> 0:00:28.440 I'm Jonathan Strickland, I'm La, and I'm Joe McCormick. So 0:00:28.680 --> 0:00:32.360 you guys went on a trip, didn't you? Boy, how 0:00:32.640 --> 0:00:34.760 didn't go on the trip? Where did you go? We 0:00:34.800 --> 0:00:38.800 went to south By Southwest Interactive in beautiful Austin, Texas. Yes, 0:00:38.920 --> 0:00:42.960 I shared a Airbnb house with several other of the 0:00:43.080 --> 0:00:46.640 guys here at how Stuff Works, So Nolan I both 0:00:46.680 --> 0:00:50.560 know the joys of sleeping in a large living room together. 0:00:52.280 --> 0:00:54.960 It was it was being a little bit sarcastic here 0:00:55.000 --> 0:00:56.760 at the top, but but no, but it was. I mean, 0:00:56.760 --> 0:00:59.720 it was an amazing, wonderful trip. It was overwhelming most 0:00:59.760 --> 0:01:01.760 of the time. Now, a lot of our listeners may 0:01:01.800 --> 0:01:05.679 already understand, but just brief rundown, what is south By Southwest? 0:01:05.840 --> 0:01:07.360 South By Southwest? First of all, you have to know 0:01:07.400 --> 0:01:10.200 that south By Southwest itself is an enormous festival that 0:01:10.280 --> 0:01:14.080 takes over downtown Austin, Texas for a little bit more 0:01:14.120 --> 0:01:16.880 than a week, and it has three not just music, No, 0:01:16.959 --> 0:01:19.119 it's not just music. It has three primary elements. It's 0:01:19.120 --> 0:01:22.039 gotten music that's that's a big one. It's got film 0:01:22.080 --> 0:01:24.440 that's a big one. And it has Interactive, which is 0:01:24.440 --> 0:01:29.119 the youngest of the three elements to join this conference. Uh, 0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:32.040 and Interactive is really, when you get down to it, 0:01:32.319 --> 0:01:37.640 anything vaguely techy. Lots of Internet based companies, but over 0:01:37.680 --> 0:01:40.319 the years we've seen more and more companies that are 0:01:40.920 --> 0:01:45.840 tangential to Internet startups join in the fun and create 0:01:46.240 --> 0:01:49.960 amazing experiences. There are tracts of panels that you can 0:01:50.000 --> 0:01:52.400 go to to learn more about certain subjects, but there's 0:01:52.480 --> 0:01:55.640 also just a ton of other stuff going on. So, 0:01:55.680 --> 0:01:58.440 for example, you could walk around downtown Austin and never 0:01:58.520 --> 0:02:02.160 go to a panel ever, but hit all the installations, 0:02:02.200 --> 0:02:05.440 exhibits and parties that are They are kind of supplemental 0:02:05.520 --> 0:02:09.200 to the official track program. Yeah, a lot of the 0:02:09.200 --> 0:02:11.880 really big tech companies have a presence there. A lot 0:02:11.960 --> 0:02:14.880 of them are kind of kind of wooing everyone involved, 0:02:14.919 --> 0:02:17.359 you know, put putting their very best marketing face forward, 0:02:17.760 --> 0:02:19.920 and and there are so many people who are in 0:02:19.919 --> 0:02:23.359 the industry who are either on panels or just hanging 0:02:23.400 --> 0:02:28.320 out having amazing conversations about about digital culture and and 0:02:28.400 --> 0:02:30.680 just what it's like like, like what this new world 0:02:31.200 --> 0:02:34.080 that's Internet based is like around us. Yeah, there's a 0:02:34.120 --> 0:02:37.360 lot of networking going on its south by Southwest, and 0:02:37.440 --> 0:02:41.560 I mean that literally people are are networking together and 0:02:41.760 --> 0:02:45.279 create sometimes creating brand new projects just through their conversations 0:02:45.320 --> 0:02:48.880 they're having there. So it's, uh, it's it's a party atmosphere, 0:02:49.240 --> 0:02:52.640 but there's also a lot of talk, real serious talk 0:02:52.760 --> 0:02:56.519 around innovation and being more effective. And uh, I got 0:02:56.560 --> 0:02:59.600 to go to three panels while I was there, so 0:02:59.639 --> 0:03:01.360 I want to to kind of talk about those panels 0:03:01.360 --> 0:03:04.000 because they tie in directly to themes we've discussed here 0:03:04.000 --> 0:03:06.639 on Forward Thinking quite a few times. Now. Please keep 0:03:06.639 --> 0:03:09.000 in mind the three panels I saw, they were all 0:03:09.040 --> 0:03:11.280 part of the same track of programming, which was the 0:03:11.320 --> 0:03:14.480 Intelligent Future track kind of kind of our sweet spot, 0:03:14.680 --> 0:03:16.480 ah yeah, which is just one of what maybe like 0:03:16.480 --> 0:03:20.040 a dozen tracks that were going on just an interactive 0:03:20.120 --> 0:03:24.800 and there were hundreds of panels available just in Intelligent 0:03:25.080 --> 0:03:28.200 may maybe maybe another dozen, we'll we'll say in dozens 0:03:28.320 --> 0:03:30.800 of panels available intelligent futures of the course of the 0:03:30.800 --> 0:03:34.320 five days of Interactive And that's an addition to hundreds 0:03:34.320 --> 0:03:37.040 and hundreds of more panels going on throughout that week 0:03:37.080 --> 0:03:39.880 and throughout the film segmented throughout the music segments. So 0:03:40.160 --> 0:03:43.400 also there are unofficial events as well, like there are 0:03:43.400 --> 0:03:46.480 discussions that didn't require a badge for you to go 0:03:46.560 --> 0:03:49.120 and check out. So in other words, what what I'm 0:03:49.120 --> 0:03:51.360 doing is, I'm giving you all the caveats to suggest 0:03:51.640 --> 0:03:54.120 this is not the only thing that was talked about 0:03:54.160 --> 0:03:57.040 south By Southwest. This was the stuff I was personally 0:03:57.080 --> 0:04:00.680 able to go see. But that being said, the stuff 0:04:00.720 --> 0:04:03.280 I saw it was pretty amazing. So I wanted to 0:04:03.280 --> 0:04:06.440 start with the first panel I saw. This was Saturday 0:04:06.480 --> 0:04:10.400 morning in the morning, as I recall, looking forward to 0:04:10.440 --> 0:04:12.400 rush hour. No, I don't think they have a nine 0:04:12.480 --> 0:04:17.159 thirty on Saturdays. They do, I've witnessed it personally. I 0:04:17.160 --> 0:04:19.680 think downtown Austin was as surprised as you are by 0:04:19.720 --> 0:04:22.560 this information. Yeah, actually was a pretty full panel too. 0:04:22.640 --> 0:04:24.039 That was the other thing that surprised me because I 0:04:24.040 --> 0:04:26.720 had always heard that because of the party atmosphere of 0:04:26.800 --> 0:04:29.760 south By Southwest the morning panels were not very well attended, 0:04:29.800 --> 0:04:31.800 but that was not the case in this one. It's 0:04:31.800 --> 0:04:35.080 called looking forward to Rush Hour, not the movie Future 0:04:35.200 --> 0:04:39.279 of Transit, So UH. The panel I saw featured Dan 0:04:39.360 --> 0:04:42.240 Dorley and Chip Walters, both of whom work for Altuit Design, 0:04:42.320 --> 0:04:46.240 which is a company that does UH industrial and product design, 0:04:46.920 --> 0:04:50.159 and they are both designers, and so they kind of 0:04:50.320 --> 0:04:55.440 split the panel into two major UH subjects. Um Dan 0:04:55.520 --> 0:04:59.279 Dorley took the microphone first and talked about the future 0:04:59.400 --> 0:05:03.280 of car is and UH. One of the things they 0:05:03.320 --> 0:05:06.800 really focused on, no big surprise, happened to be autonomous cars. 0:05:07.880 --> 0:05:10.200 This is something we've obviously talked about several times here 0:05:10.680 --> 0:05:14.599 at Forward Thinking, but at south By Southwest autonomous cars 0:05:14.600 --> 0:05:16.800 are pretty much we're pretty much talked about as an 0:05:16.800 --> 0:05:22.400 inevitable future. Not will autonomous cars become a thing, but 0:05:22.520 --> 0:05:24.479 it was more like when are they going to be 0:05:24.680 --> 0:05:28.159 the thing? I think that's been our consensus as well. 0:05:28.200 --> 0:05:30.360 I agree, I agree. Yeah, it's just one of those 0:05:30.360 --> 0:05:32.760 where you go there and everyone's talking about like it's 0:05:32.800 --> 0:05:36.880 already here, almost like we're to be fair, it looks 0:05:36.880 --> 0:05:39.080 like we're right on the cusp, right, it's just gonna 0:05:39.120 --> 0:05:41.720 take a little bit more work for us to see 0:05:41.720 --> 0:05:47.000 the first really truly autonomous vehicles available for some form 0:05:47.080 --> 0:05:51.400 of commercial purpose. It may not be for a personal vehicle, 0:05:51.640 --> 0:05:53.880 but we'll get more to that a little bit. So. 0:05:54.040 --> 0:05:56.160 He also talked about how autonomous cars have the potential 0:05:56.200 --> 0:05:59.480 to drastically change car design and more in the future. 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:03.839 For one, obviously there's not necessarily a need for human controls, 0:06:04.560 --> 0:06:07.120 so this hasn't completely shaken out yet. Right. There's some 0:06:07.200 --> 0:06:11.240 designs for autonomous vehicles that include things like your traditional 0:06:11.279 --> 0:06:14.040 steering wheel and other controls, some of which might fold 0:06:14.040 --> 0:06:17.080 away when you go into autonomous mode. But there are 0:06:17.080 --> 0:06:21.000 other companies like Google that advocate for a complete lack 0:06:21.279 --> 0:06:26.880 of human controls uh basically because it improves safety. The 0:06:26.960 --> 0:06:29.240 idea being that if you're driving down the street and 0:06:29.240 --> 0:06:31.120 you've got a friend seeing in the passenger's seat, you 0:06:31.120 --> 0:06:33.520 don't want your friend reaching over suddenly grabbing the steering 0:06:33.520 --> 0:06:37.000 wheel and giving it a strong jerk to the right right. Well, 0:06:37.040 --> 0:06:39.280 you same thing. You don't want to have an autonomous 0:06:39.320 --> 0:06:41.719 system in control of the car and then have a 0:06:41.800 --> 0:06:45.120 human try and rest control from that, especially if if 0:06:45.160 --> 0:06:47.719 brain power wise, your friend is for example, a small 0:06:47.800 --> 0:06:51.680 child or extremely inapriated like that's probably how the technology 0:06:51.680 --> 0:06:56.920 and Google's cars would see us humans samely inebriated children. Yes, yeah, 0:06:56.960 --> 0:06:59.320 that's exactly how how they would see us. And and 0:06:59.400 --> 0:07:01.160 for good re in I mean, you're talking about the 0:07:01.200 --> 0:07:03.200 system that has planned out what it's going to do, 0:07:03.800 --> 0:07:07.279 and if you introduce what appears to be random noise 0:07:07.279 --> 0:07:11.600 into that, you have just put what was at least 0:07:11.640 --> 0:07:15.640 in theory a safe system, uh into and and turned 0:07:15.600 --> 0:07:19.320 it into one that's not safe. So that was one 0:07:19.320 --> 0:07:20.720 of the points you made. Also said that if you 0:07:20.720 --> 0:07:23.120 don't have human controls, it means you can completely redesign 0:07:23.200 --> 0:07:26.800 the interior of cars. And we haven't really talked about 0:07:26.800 --> 0:07:28.800 this on forward Thinking, but when you think about it, 0:07:29.240 --> 0:07:31.600 that's true. You could have an interior of a car 0:07:32.000 --> 0:07:34.560 not look anything like cars do right now. We've seen 0:07:34.600 --> 0:07:37.520 some artist depictions of this where all the seats are 0:07:37.520 --> 0:07:40.600 facing inward, where it's more like almost like a conference room, 0:07:40.640 --> 0:07:43.360 like there's a table in the center and your back 0:07:43.480 --> 0:07:46.640 is to the windshield. There there's still some practical considerations 0:07:46.640 --> 0:07:49.880 to think of around, like like motion sickness. I would 0:07:49.880 --> 0:07:52.800 not personally be excited about riding backwards in a car, well, 0:07:52.960 --> 0:07:55.840 you know what you always said, in the back of 0:07:55.920 --> 0:07:58.080 the car, and then you don't even have to you know, 0:07:58.120 --> 0:08:00.520 you're still facing for it or there. I've seen some 0:08:01.240 --> 0:08:05.360 designs where it's a swivel version where the front Yeah. No, 0:08:05.440 --> 0:08:07.720 I totally get it because I I also if I'm 0:08:07.720 --> 0:08:10.160 sitting backward for too long in any kind of moving vehicle, 0:08:10.640 --> 0:08:13.880 I feel a little a little green around the gills. 0:08:13.920 --> 0:08:18.760 But you can also create more displays for things like entertainment. 0:08:19.040 --> 0:08:21.920 You can have a lot of other options. You can 0:08:22.000 --> 0:08:24.160 have workstations if you want to do work while you're 0:08:24.160 --> 0:08:27.200 in the car. Also could make you really motion sick 0:08:27.240 --> 0:08:29.240 if you're not used to that sort of thing. But 0:08:29.880 --> 0:08:33.199 interesting alternatives to what we have often thought of as 0:08:33.200 --> 0:08:37.960 the traditional, uh interior of of a car also pointed out. 0:08:38.480 --> 0:08:41.480 Doorally pointed out that autonomous cars are safer than human drivers, 0:08:41.520 --> 0:08:43.880 and once there are enough autonomous cars on the road, 0:08:44.520 --> 0:08:49.120 you can really change what is standard car design. For example, 0:08:49.640 --> 0:08:52.760 you don't need to build in huge crumple zones if 0:08:52.960 --> 0:08:55.240 all the cars on the road or the vast majority 0:08:55.280 --> 0:08:58.440 of them are autonomous, because the likelihood of any kind 0:08:58.600 --> 0:09:01.480 of crash on that level is so low, which means 0:09:01.840 --> 0:09:04.800 you're using less material to make your cars. That's less wasteful. 0:09:05.840 --> 0:09:07.880 You can be more efficient with the material you're creating. 0:09:08.080 --> 0:09:11.520 It also means that the cars themselves weigh less. And 0:09:11.880 --> 0:09:14.280 presuming that these cars are also electric, which I think 0:09:14.320 --> 0:09:17.200 most people just assume that's the future that's gonna be 0:09:17.240 --> 0:09:20.640 it electric in one way or another, it means that 0:09:20.840 --> 0:09:23.839 you can preserve battery life. You know, their battery doesn't 0:09:23.840 --> 0:09:27.000 have to put out as much electricity to move a 0:09:27.120 --> 0:09:29.920 lighter car as it would a heavier car. You know, 0:09:30.280 --> 0:09:35.880 pretty simple stuff. But his point was that the implications 0:09:35.920 --> 0:09:38.760 of autonomous cars go well beyond you don't have to 0:09:38.880 --> 0:09:44.079 drive anymore. Um. He also brought up the idea of 0:09:43.800 --> 0:09:47.760 a universal chassis, So, in other words, you create a 0:09:47.920 --> 0:09:51.400 base for your vehicles that is common across all the 0:09:51.480 --> 0:09:54.520 lines of vehicles you make. You might have to extend 0:09:54.520 --> 0:09:57.400 it a bit for certain vehicles, like the chassis that 0:09:57.440 --> 0:09:59.560 you might use for a compact car. Obviously you would 0:09:59.559 --> 0:10:01.319 have to to a little bit for it to be 0:10:01.400 --> 0:10:04.400 like a pickup truck. But you can start with the 0:10:04.440 --> 0:10:09.400 same basic foundation and this allows you to uh to 0:10:09.720 --> 0:10:15.160 rapidly build various different vehicle types on demand, possibly because 0:10:15.160 --> 0:10:17.920 he also brought up the potential for three D printed cars. 0:10:18.080 --> 0:10:20.199 Yeah and and yeah, right, any anytime that you can 0:10:20.360 --> 0:10:24.440 streamline the manufacturing process. Here, you're saving time and energy, yes, 0:10:24.640 --> 0:10:27.520 and that's both of those are non trivial. Right, We've 0:10:27.559 --> 0:10:30.920 talked about money. But yeah, yeah, yeah, time, energy and money. 0:10:30.920 --> 0:10:34.320 It's a it's the it's the trio that's everyone's wanting to, 0:10:34.600 --> 0:10:38.959 uh really crack. We actually saw this concept championed in 0:10:39.040 --> 0:10:41.200 person orally. When I say we, I mean a crew 0:10:41.240 --> 0:10:43.000 from mouse Stuff Works did. I went to c E. 0:10:43.200 --> 0:10:45.360 S And you might remember I talked about Faraday Futures 0:10:45.440 --> 0:10:48.559 f F zero one race car concept. It was a 0:10:48.600 --> 0:10:52.400 super crazy looking race car, but it was really just 0:10:52.480 --> 0:10:56.040 an eye catcher for Faraday Future to talk about their approach, 0:10:56.080 --> 0:11:00.120 which takes this idea of let's start with a basic 0:11:00.360 --> 0:11:05.319 foundation that is very easily modifiable, and then we can 0:11:05.480 --> 0:11:10.199 create all sorts of different vehicles using this same chassis, 0:11:10.800 --> 0:11:16.079 and that reduces production cost dramatically, and ultimately it means 0:11:16.120 --> 0:11:19.480 that these types of vehicles will be less expensive to 0:11:19.520 --> 0:11:23.840 make and therefore, at least in theory, less expensive to purchase. Uh. 0:11:24.040 --> 0:11:27.960 As well as other implications. So he also talked about 0:11:28.000 --> 0:11:30.320 you could get to a point where you could design 0:11:30.320 --> 0:11:32.600 your own vehicle. Yeah, like like on the flip side, 0:11:32.960 --> 0:11:35.520 you know, instead of being less customized your could you 0:11:35.559 --> 0:11:38.160 could get something very customized. Right, So you you got 0:11:38.160 --> 0:11:42.240 like your basic chassis where essentially that that is unchangeable 0:11:42.320 --> 0:11:45.480 to some degree, But then you can sit there and 0:11:45.520 --> 0:11:48.839 decide how your car should look. You can become a 0:11:48.840 --> 0:11:54.439 car designer using some form of three D manipulation software. 0:11:54.640 --> 0:11:57.320 Should have should have that grimlin on the front like 0:11:57.360 --> 0:12:00.640 the truck and maximum overdrive you I mean, I guess 0:12:00.679 --> 0:12:02.520 you could do that. I was thinking that you could 0:12:02.600 --> 0:12:04.800 go crazy like Homer Simpson when he had the chance 0:12:04.840 --> 0:12:07.600 to design his own car, like you need a horn everywhere, 0:12:07.640 --> 0:12:11.079 that kind of thing. Um. So, but you could actually 0:12:11.120 --> 0:12:15.040 design your own unique vehicle that nobody else in the 0:12:15.080 --> 0:12:18.319 world will have. Uh. And there are even some companies 0:12:18.440 --> 0:12:20.760 right now that are experimenting with this. Now. Granted, this 0:12:20.800 --> 0:12:23.480 is super high end, so you've got to have a 0:12:23.480 --> 0:12:25.240 lot of money to be able to do this sort 0:12:25.280 --> 0:12:29.520 of thing. Also, you obviously need to have some some 0:12:30.800 --> 0:12:34.760 skill in design to make this, uh, something that's both 0:12:34.760 --> 0:12:38.080 gonna be a practical and attractive or if not practical, 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:42.000 at least safe. Right. So, but but it's an interesting 0:12:42.080 --> 0:12:44.839 notion that we could get to a level of customization where, 0:12:45.400 --> 0:12:48.720 at least for some businesses, you don't you know, people 0:12:48.720 --> 0:12:50.360 will ask, well, what kind of cars that? Oh, it's 0:12:50.400 --> 0:12:53.280 my car. I made it. There is no other like it. 0:12:53.600 --> 0:12:56.520 That's pretty amazing. Uh. And then the second half of 0:12:56.559 --> 0:13:01.199 the talk discussed the hyperloop. Right, yeah, this was Chip 0:13:01.240 --> 0:13:04.280 Walters who took this concept and ran with it. So 0:13:04.840 --> 0:13:08.640 he was talking about how when Ellen Musk or Elon Musk, 0:13:08.800 --> 0:13:12.000 I usually say Ellen, but I've heard both, was talking 0:13:12.000 --> 0:13:15.960 about hyper loop. His idea was that he wanted to 0:13:16.000 --> 0:13:19.319 make the the designs that he and his engineers had 0:13:19.360 --> 0:13:23.240 come up with available for other companies to play with 0:13:23.600 --> 0:13:27.920 to turn this idea into a potential reality, and out 0:13:27.920 --> 0:13:30.400 to it. Design was one of the companies that actually 0:13:30.559 --> 0:13:33.880 took on that challenge. So first, Walter's explained the differences 0:13:33.920 --> 0:13:38.080 between their approach to creating a capsule for the hyper 0:13:38.080 --> 0:13:40.720 loop and the one that was outlined in the initial 0:13:40.760 --> 0:13:45.520 documents that Musk released, and so uh. In Musk's version, 0:13:46.240 --> 0:13:48.640 the ideas that a capsule would travel at a top 0:13:48.679 --> 0:13:51.400 speed of more than seven hundred miles per hour one 0:13:51.440 --> 0:13:55.680 thousand seven kilometers per hour. But Walter said that when 0:13:55.880 --> 0:13:59.120 their engineers started working on this and started crunching the numbers, 0:13:59.800 --> 0:14:03.040 they decided that it was probably better to design a 0:14:03.120 --> 0:14:08.800 top speed of between three or fo three to four 0:14:08.920 --> 0:14:12.920 kilometers prower as the top speed. Not that the seven 0:14:12.760 --> 0:14:15.400 hundred would have been impossible, but this would be more 0:14:15.440 --> 0:14:19.640 achievable from an engineering standpoint. It's more practical for a 0:14:19.640 --> 0:14:22.160 couple of different reasons. One about you know, the amount 0:14:22.160 --> 0:14:25.400 of energy you would need to uh push something up 0:14:25.440 --> 0:14:28.680 to that that top speed. Another would be how long 0:14:28.720 --> 0:14:32.160 you would want the acceleration to last, because obviously, if 0:14:32.160 --> 0:14:35.960 you have a short period of acceleration, you create a 0:14:36.040 --> 0:14:40.240 huge amount of force that the people writing the capsule 0:14:40.240 --> 0:14:42.760 will feel. So you want to decrease that amount, and 0:14:42.760 --> 0:14:45.240 you want the acceleration be nice and gentle, so that 0:14:45.280 --> 0:14:48.560 it's not something that everyone's concentrating on, like they're suddenly 0:14:48.600 --> 0:14:50.840 pressed back in their seat and can't move forward at all. 0:14:51.360 --> 0:14:54.440 Um And he also pointed out that this caused some 0:14:54.560 --> 0:14:57.600 other issues because if you're moving at a quote unquote 0:14:57.640 --> 0:15:02.280 slower speed, then your trip is going to take longer, right, 0:15:02.480 --> 0:15:05.040 Like a trip from San Francisco to l A will 0:15:05.080 --> 0:15:07.880 take longer. The original hyper loop design has that trip 0:15:07.960 --> 0:15:10.960 lasting about half an hour. Well, if you're going half 0:15:10.960 --> 0:15:13.040 that speed, you're talking about at least an hour to 0:15:13.080 --> 0:15:15.440 get from point A to point B, which is still incredible, 0:15:15.840 --> 0:15:18.120 but it you know, you might need to go the 0:15:18.120 --> 0:15:20.720 bathroom in an hour. You might be all right for 0:15:20.960 --> 0:15:22.680 half an hour, you might even be all right for 0:15:22.760 --> 0:15:25.720 an hour, but for longer travel times you have to 0:15:25.720 --> 0:15:27.520 start thinking, all right, well, now we've got to build 0:15:27.520 --> 0:15:31.640 in something that wasn't in the initial approach, which is lavatories, 0:15:31.920 --> 0:15:34.440 and that's just one of those practical considerations you have 0:15:34.520 --> 0:15:37.400 to make. Um So I thought that was really interesting 0:15:37.400 --> 0:15:40.600 that he talked about that. Uh. He also mentioned that 0:15:40.800 --> 0:15:45.440 the design they created had retractable wheels, so a normal 0:15:45.480 --> 0:15:48.200 operation you actually have air bearings. It's like an air 0:15:48.360 --> 0:15:52.160 sled almost inside you know, the hyperloop In case you've forgotten, 0:15:52.440 --> 0:15:56.680 it's an enclosed like tunnel like track that's elevated above 0:15:56.720 --> 0:16:00.400 the ground, but it's it's a vacuum tube or near vacuum. 0:16:00.400 --> 0:16:03.160 It's actually very low air pressure, so not a true 0:16:03.240 --> 0:16:07.040 vacuum that a capsule or several capsules actually can move through. 0:16:07.040 --> 0:16:11.720 And each capsule uses compressed air to rise up above 0:16:11.880 --> 0:16:18.440 the surface of the enclosed track and fly on down 0:16:18.480 --> 0:16:20.680 at at high speeds. And you're able to go at 0:16:20.680 --> 0:16:23.400 those high speeds because you have very low friction, very 0:16:23.400 --> 0:16:27.480 low air resistance, and that helps. But you not you 0:16:27.560 --> 0:16:31.440 might need wheels if the air system breaks down. Yeah, 0:16:31.520 --> 0:16:34.480 it's it's the most practical. If you know, some something happens, 0:16:34.520 --> 0:16:37.600 you don't want to have to wait for like helicopters 0:16:37.640 --> 0:16:40.800 to come get everybody off the trade or something like that. Yeah, 0:16:40.800 --> 0:16:44.960 you're inside a solid capsule, inside a tunnel that is 0:16:45.080 --> 0:16:48.040 elevated above the ground. You might start feeling a wee 0:16:48.080 --> 0:16:51.040 bit anxious if it stops moving and you have no 0:16:51.120 --> 0:16:54.280 idea when it will start again. So they have these 0:16:54.280 --> 0:16:57.640 retractable wheels in their design that would deploy if the 0:16:58.080 --> 0:17:00.880 if the air sled was to stop working, and then 0:17:00.880 --> 0:17:03.120 they could just wheel to the next exit point. And 0:17:03.480 --> 0:17:05.840 I think he said, and I could be wrong about this, 0:17:05.880 --> 0:17:08.320 but I'm pretty sure he said that in their design 0:17:08.440 --> 0:17:10.879 they made it a requirement that there should be an 0:17:10.880 --> 0:17:14.399 exit point every ten miles along the track, so it 0:17:14.440 --> 0:17:18.240 would drive all using its wheels to the next extraction 0:17:18.320 --> 0:17:21.960 point essentially, and you would exit the chamber or the 0:17:22.080 --> 0:17:25.640 you would exit the capsule into the the track, uh 0:17:25.680 --> 0:17:30.040 and then climb out from there. UH. So that was 0:17:30.080 --> 0:17:32.960 also interesting. He also talked about the fact that there 0:17:33.000 --> 0:17:37.119 would be multiple classes of capsule layouts, so sort of 0:17:37.160 --> 0:17:40.560 like how you have different classes of seats in an airplane, 0:17:40.560 --> 0:17:43.399 you would have different classes of seats in a hyperloop. UM. 0:17:43.560 --> 0:17:46.080 He first explained that Musks design allowed for two different 0:17:46.080 --> 0:17:49.320 sizes of capsules, one that would be smaller and one 0:17:49.359 --> 0:17:51.359 that would be larger, and they chose to go with 0:17:51.400 --> 0:17:54.680 a larger one for two reasons. One, the smaller one 0:17:54.920 --> 0:17:58.280 created a real feeling of claustrophobia when you think about 0:17:58.359 --> 0:18:01.760 how small it was, um. And to the larger one 0:18:01.800 --> 0:18:06.480 would allow for you to have a car stored in 0:18:06.560 --> 0:18:10.320 one of the capsules. So the idea being that if 0:18:10.359 --> 0:18:12.879 you were trying to go from San Francisco de l A, 0:18:13.720 --> 0:18:15.479 but you needed to have your car once you got 0:18:15.680 --> 0:18:19.280 l A, it could transport the car as well. UM 0:18:19.320 --> 0:18:22.840 and so uh. They showed off some of the or 0:18:22.880 --> 0:18:25.879 he showed off some of the artists renderings of what 0:18:26.040 --> 0:18:29.560 these different capsule interiors would look like. So the top 0:18:29.600 --> 0:18:32.760 of the line had the fewest number of seats, so 0:18:32.880 --> 0:18:36.400 each person was given the most space possible. And this 0:18:36.440 --> 0:18:38.919 is one where you might, Lauren, you might have to 0:18:39.359 --> 0:18:44.240 have claim a specific chair because because the four seats, 0:18:44.280 --> 0:18:46.760 they would all the two two pairs of seats would 0:18:46.760 --> 0:18:48.639 face in towards each other. And you could have like 0:18:48.640 --> 0:18:51.840 a fold away tray er table that you could lay 0:18:51.840 --> 0:18:54.960 out to act as a workstation. But again it's almost 0:18:55.000 --> 0:18:58.720 like a conference table. Now. The difference here, of course, 0:18:58.800 --> 0:19:03.200 is that you can't you can't see the outside. There's 0:19:03.240 --> 0:19:05.280 no window for you to look at, which is which 0:19:05.280 --> 0:19:09.840 is a huge part of right. So uh it's also 0:19:09.920 --> 0:19:13.399 something that some people might find create some anxiety, but 0:19:13.440 --> 0:19:15.679 I'll talk more about their solution to that in just 0:19:15.760 --> 0:19:20.240 a second. So that was the most roomy of it 0:19:20.320 --> 0:19:23.160 could be, but I'll get to it. Uh So next 0:19:23.280 --> 0:19:25.919 was a business class style capsule which had sort of 0:19:26.040 --> 0:19:29.320 roomy ish seats. What you could think of it like 0:19:29.400 --> 0:19:34.119 kind of the the comfort economy seats and some airlines. 0:19:34.440 --> 0:19:37.200 And then you had your economy class or standard class, 0:19:37.240 --> 0:19:39.679 which you know, you pack them in like sardines. And 0:19:39.960 --> 0:19:43.480 uh it looked like the you know again, in the renderings, 0:19:43.520 --> 0:19:46.600 it looked like the width of the capsule was about 0:19:46.680 --> 0:19:51.040 the same as a small commercial jet. So maybe one 0:19:51.040 --> 0:19:52.840 that has like two seats on one side and one 0:19:52.880 --> 0:19:55.440 seat on the other, something along those lines, or maybe 0:19:55.440 --> 0:19:58.320 two and two. But that's about as many as you 0:19:58.320 --> 0:20:02.679 could pack, just because the limitations on the size the 0:20:02.720 --> 0:20:07.320 interior size of the capsule UM. And here's how they 0:20:07.359 --> 0:20:10.320 tried to combat the feeling that you're just in a 0:20:11.119 --> 0:20:14.800 you know, like like essentially an elevator that you can't 0:20:14.840 --> 0:20:17.040 get out of for half an hour or an hour. 0:20:17.720 --> 0:20:21.080 They in their design they expect that the walls would 0:20:21.119 --> 0:20:25.679 be very high quality displays and you could display something 0:20:26.000 --> 0:20:29.080 on the walls that could be uh it could even 0:20:29.119 --> 0:20:31.919 be in motion, like it could be a video, not 0:20:32.000 --> 0:20:35.439 just a static picture, so that you have something to 0:20:35.520 --> 0:20:38.840 look at besides just you know, the people sitting around you. 0:20:39.400 --> 0:20:41.359 And in the examples they had, they had one that 0:20:41.480 --> 0:20:44.719 looked like you were flying over clouds like you were 0:20:44.760 --> 0:20:47.840 in a jet um with with no obstruction, like it 0:20:47.960 --> 0:20:51.199 like the whole thing is just open because you know, 0:20:51.240 --> 0:20:53.560 there are no windows the whole side of the wall 0:20:53.600 --> 0:20:56.200 as a screen. There was another one where it made 0:20:56.200 --> 0:20:58.280 it look like it was a giant aquarium. So it's 0:20:58.320 --> 0:21:01.520 really cool, but you know, again it was just sort 0:21:01.520 --> 0:21:05.280 of conceptual. There's they don't have one built. Um, so 0:21:05.320 --> 0:21:07.560 I thought that was pretty interesting. And they also said 0:21:08.119 --> 0:21:11.960 that because of their design, because they're not a jet, 0:21:12.600 --> 0:21:15.320 you don't have to have the capsule accelerate to top 0:21:15.400 --> 0:21:18.159 speed right away. You can take a lot of time 0:21:18.520 --> 0:21:22.720 and have it continuously accelerate at a lower rate, thus 0:21:22.800 --> 0:21:26.200 creating less of a of a force upon the people 0:21:26.760 --> 0:21:29.840 inside the capsule. That's obviously important if you're if you're 0:21:29.880 --> 0:21:32.280 one of those people who's sitting with your back facing 0:21:32.800 --> 0:21:35.080 the front of the capsule, and if it were to 0:21:35.080 --> 0:21:37.800 accelerate quickly, you would be bent forward right. You wouldn't 0:21:37.800 --> 0:21:40.400 be pressed back in your seat, you would be folded up. 0:21:41.000 --> 0:21:43.879 So you want to make sure that that accelerative force 0:21:44.119 --> 0:21:48.240 is not so strong as to create discomfort in the passengers. Yeah, 0:21:48.280 --> 0:21:52.920 nobody wants to unintentionally head desk. That's not that's not fun. No, 0:21:53.640 --> 0:21:57.520 Intentional head desks are are comedic. Unintentional ones are tragic. 0:21:57.960 --> 0:22:00.679 So um. He also mentioned a thing that I never 0:22:00.760 --> 0:22:04.840 thought about before, so clearly, these these tracks are not 0:22:04.840 --> 0:22:06.280 going to be a straight line. You're not gonna have 0:22:06.280 --> 0:22:08.600 a straight line from San Francisco de l A. There's 0:22:08.640 --> 0:22:11.920 gonna be some curves. But then you think, well, curves, 0:22:12.000 --> 0:22:15.239 when you change direction, that's an acceleration, right, because it's 0:22:15.240 --> 0:22:18.200