Air travel is nearing capacity and will soon reach its peak.
High-speed rail and tubes are the future of transport.
High-speed rail and tubes are the future of transport.
This makes for a funny* situation regarding things like CA high speed rail plan for SF to LA which is currently slated for completion in 2028. If this turns out to be 10 years after the first commercial robotic car, it will likely be obsolete prior to its first run.
*Depends on your sense of humor.
I have no idea what you are referring to by tubes though.
Probably a reference to Elon Musk's recent claim that he had come up with some secret technology that could dramatically improve long distance transportation, with much (much) higher speed, lower energy usage, and (much) lower cost than conventional HSR.
Unfortunately the only detail Musk would give was a very hand-wavy reference to "tubes," and a subsequent clarification that he didn't mean the usual sort of "evacuated tube transport" people have talked about for ages and ages.
Based on all the discussion I've seen, though, it seems pretty likely it's just a vague idea Musk had that he didn't bother to think through, and it will fall apart when he tries to fill in the details...
Using HSR to facilitate movement within the high-density regions can make sense, even if using it to facilitate movement from one high-density region to another doesn't.