[alberthartman]

How about dropping the Hyperloop evacuated tube idea and replace it with something more achievable? How about a private roadway that is completely flat and only for specially-equipped electric cars? The cars are completely autonomous and communicate with neighboring cars and a central traffic controller. The cars can tailgate each other in complete safety at 200-250 mph allowing for extremely dense road usage (no 9 car lengths separations). And all the traffic will move at exactly the same super-high speed, carefully servoed.

People can just get in using their own privately-owned certified compliant electric cars. And then take a nap as the autonomous driving takes over for safe high-speed travel. No traffic jam slowdowns, no slowpokes in your lane. Road-embedded power can wirelessly beam energy so there is no need for refueling stations. Traffic control manages vehicles entering and leaving the roadway. Read the news or take a nap. SF-to-LA in 2hrs, and you arrive rested and with your car.

Not the hyperloop, but drastically cheaper and leveraging technology that's coming anyway. The novelty is drastically higher speeds, bumper to bumper driving, continuous fueling.