Could we travel from New York City to Los Angeles in 45 minutes? If Elon Musk has his way, we will. Musk, one of the founders behind PayPal, Tesla Motors and SpaceX, has his sights set on extreme high-speed travel. Imagine the old-school tubes at your bank that whisk your deposit away to the teller inside. Now imagine those big enough to carry people, and you have the rough idea for the Hyperloop. These tubes could be mounted either above ground or underwater, and would be combined with the same type of magnetic levitation system used on today’s bullet trains. That means no friction, wind resistance or chance of collisions. Musk has described the Hyperloop as a cross between a turbo jet, a railgun and an air hockey table. It’s still just an idea for the future, but it’s possible that in a few years, a trip from New York City to LA could take just 45 minutes, or we could make it all the way to Beijing in just two hours.
About Shelly Palmer
Shelly Palmer is the Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and CEO of The Palmer Group, a consulting practice that helps Fortune 500 companies with technology, media and marketing. Named LinkedIn’s “Top Voice in Technology,” he covers tech and business for Good Day New York, is a regular commentator on CNN and writes a popular daily business blog. He's a bestselling author, and the creator of the popular, free online course, Generative AI for Execs. Follow @shellypalmer or visit shellypalmer.com.