This isn't Elon's Hyperloop for those wondering. The term Hyperloop's been misappropriated and applied to different technology to piggyback on the hype Elon caused.
This way, Musk saves face by not failing publically.
If the idea fails, he can just say "It was in your hands, I left the idea with you!"
Pretty clever exploit...
Go to boringcompany.com to see what they're currently up to + they've had competition for university teams to develop the skate that you're vehicle would be accelerated by in the Hyperloop.
Elon has the engineering team, along with himself, from SpaceX to reference and understand the physics of the tunnel transportation systems they are developing.
Many things are wrong with the hyperloop or loop proposals. The first is that they are unproven and wildly off cost estimate. Elon musk waived off hyperloop costs by declaring that they can be built along pylons on existing highways. But that's absurd, as existing highways are built to the standard of 70-80 mph, and for the proposed speeds of 400-500 mph, the curvatures of the road, and the twists and the turns are completely different. Hence, land acquisition costs do not go away. The same thing applies to boring company's loop. If you are going to zip at 150mph, the curvatures are steep, and any common tunnel will slow it down.
I watched a few videos doing a more thorough analysis. If you're interested, I'll try to find and share them.
The Boring Company is moving forward at a good pace, including still doing competitions for last 4 years at universities for teams to create the best skate that will be used to accelerate vehicles in the Hyperloop.
This is nonesense. Being an "Engineer" doesn't automatically make you capable of engineering anything.
Engineering rockets is a very different discipline from engineering tunnels in earth and rock. I'd be surprised if anything other than very basic physics applied to both problems.
And... let's not kid ourselves. Musk is not engineering anything at any of his companies.
And you're right the engineering is similar but different, the real additional value comes from the CEO then making the right organizational calls - which he can do because of his engineering and prior experiencing starting and scaling companies.
You simply disbelieving Musk is an engineer is you getting in the way of yourself.
Upon realizing this idea was literally impossible to achieve - he stepped away. That was to protect himself from a very public failure.