Elon Musk is the entrepreneur behind Paypal, Tesla Motors, and the Space X project, and is coming up with a new way to innovate high-speed, long-distance transportation. It's described (by Musk) as a system which implements the functionality of a rail gun, an air hockey table, and Concorde (a supersonic airliner). It's be rumored that this method of travel could get someone from San Francisco to Los Angeles in minutes, and LA to the East Coast in under an hour. What do you guys think of something like this? When do you think it's possible we could see this implemented? What would happen to the airline industry and any currently-planned high-speed railway projects? Most importantly, do you think this is even possible? e: Given what he's said so far, I think that the most likely scenario for how this would work would be the following: The method of transportation is a sphere (read: pod) within a tube. The air-hockey effect is used to create next-to zero friction in the tube, the electromagnetic propulsion properties of a rail gun is what's used to keep the pod in constant motion, and then whatever sort of propulsion is used in the Concorde is what's used to make it go like super fast and junk. The never crashing thing is a bit of a conundrum (how can you be so confident about that?) but I'd say it's likely because the pod is gyroscopic so "crashing" would become a non-issue; I.E., if the Hyperloop loses power and the magnetism and air-hockey-effect give out, the pod will keep rolling through the tube, but the inner compartment stays constantly level and parallel to the Earth.