Tesla and SpaceX co-founder Elon Musk's idea of a "Hyperloop" transportation system might eventually turn into a reality within a decade, according to a California startup.
The Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT) said that the futuristic transportation system will be used to connect several key cities in the United States.
After about a year of its Kickstarter campaign launch, HTT published a 76-page report containing documentation of its research on route selection, safety concerns, technical specs, construction costs and other potential obstacles when building the Hyperloop transportation system.
Dirk Ahlborn, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of HTT, believes that technology aspects of the project is workable, but is concerned on how the people will be convinced to build the transportation system.
The Hyperloop transportation system was first proposed by Musk in August 2013. Passengers riding the revolutionary high-speed, tube-based system will be able to travel at speeds of 800 mph; a trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco would then take only about 30 minutes.
A cost of $7 billion was estimated to build the Los Angeles-San Francisco line, notably less than the cost of an ongoing high-speed rail project for the two cities in California.
Just six weeks after the Hyperloop transportation system was proposed, the HTT was launched. The startup hired Dr. Patricia Galloway from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and Dr. Marco Villa, a SpaceX former mission operations director.
HTT estimates only around $40 to $60 for a roundtrip ticket on the future Hyperloop Los Angeles-San Francisco line. Additionally, the startup also estimates the construction costs for the project to reach up to $16 billion.
The California startup assures the public that the Hyperloop transportation system's speeds will not reach the sound barrier and cause a sonic boom; it suggests that speeds will only reach about 470 mph.
Other issues of the Hyperloop transportation system include safety, rapid pressurization, emergency brakes and claustrophobia.
Passengers cannot stand and go to the bathroom during a Hyperloop trip due to the high-speeds, but an emergency commode is installed into each of the passengers' seats.