> It's very irritating talking about whatever hyperloop is, because that the bar for what the hyperloop is keeps changing (Is it tunnels? Is it in a vacuum? If there's no vacuum isn't it just a tunnel? Is it your own car or a pod? There's solar panels somehow?).

The Hyperloop concept is exclusively a pod in a vacuum tube. The electric cars in a tunnel concept is called the Loop (no Hyper), and it's a different idea entirely developed by Musk's Boring Company (which in turn has no involvement with Hyperloop development). The names are very similar, which has caused a lot of confusion, even in mainstream media reports.

I mostly agree with the rest of your comment.