Technologist-turned-industrialist Elon Musk mused about the Hyperloop long before he officially introduced the world a the prospect of a 760-mile-per-hour tube transport system that would speed passengers from San Francisco to Los Angeles in 35 minutes.
"What you want is something that never crashes, that's at least twice as fast as a plane, that's solar powered and that leaves right when you arrive, so there is no waiting for a specific departure time," Musk told Businessweek in September 2012.
Musk waited until August 12, 2013, to post a 57-page proof-of-concept that catapulted the idea into our collective consciousness and reinforced his image as Silicon Valley's big thinker. The proposal was outlandish and downright cool enough to get everyone listening: what if human beings boarded not trains or planes, but a near-supersonic pod that shot through a tube dozens of feet above the ground like something Isaac Asimov or Arthur C. Clarke dreamt up for the world of the future. It would be solar powered, leave every 30 seconds, and remove the need to travel any other way unless you were going coast-to-coast or out of the country.
Hyperloop: Crazy or crazy awesome? (pictures) See full gallery
