So, its purpose is done now and it can retire gracefully.
Or am I being too cynical?
"Musk reportedly told his biographer, Ashlee Vance, that the Hyperloop proposal was motivated by “his hatred for California’s proposed high-speed rail system,” which he felt would be too slow, outdated and expensive. “With any luck, the high-speed rail would be canceled,” Vance wrote."
https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/elon-m...
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jul/15/elon-musk...
When he admitted he built a staged rail company to subvert public high speed rail and encourage more sales of his cars, it strikes directly at the heart of his "mission" and "values" that are so adored by the auto & tech industries.
The goal of the project is to go where people want to go. The CAHSR project took in a lot of feedback as well as local political involvement to get to its alignment. Because of this process, it hits many major population centers and destinations throughout the state. It eventually will connect all three major metro areas (SD, LA, SF) as well as the capital city (Sacramento). Once complete the HSR will be the fastest door-to-door mode of inter-city transit for many of these destinations.
There are no concrete plans to do anything related to Phase 2 since the active scope was narrowed, so the SD and Sacramento connections are really wishful thinking at this point; the Authority still says that planning is happening on Phase 2, but lists no Phase 2 related progress (even planning) in their annual reports and similarly has no Phase 2 related progress goals in those reports.
Its an SF to Anaheim project.
I think he was pretty vocal about the high speed rail project not being great, and it not a great way to spend tax payers dollars. Can you point to where he said he wanted it cancelled to sell more cars?
And my question stands. How many cars will be taken off the roads when the high speed rail is complete? Even better, would be to share the numbers with timeline of each phase.
From what I read, the first phase of the high speed rail was not due to open until 2030, and be just 275 km. It does not sound like an existential threat to Tesla.
I know musk is a divisive character, and is much derided in HN, but it seems to me a lot of the stuff on the internet and press that people attribute to him don't stand up to much scrutiny. It would be good if we could hold ourselves to a higher standard on HN.
See previous discussion here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32892396