re: Self driving cars of the future

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This concept is very cool but I can't get past the infrastructure requirements vs the potential payoff. Sure you can get from LA to SF in 30 min, but your talking 6-10 people at a time. Not to mention the extensive network of "tubes" needed. Just doesn't seem worth the effort or gov subsidiaries that'll be used to make it happen

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Depends on how much time must pass between each pod's take-off.

Suppose 8 people can fit into a pod, and there must be a 1 minute break in between each pod takeoff. That would mean that 480 people could shoot from LA to SF in a single hour. I assume there would be a tube for each direction, meaning 480 people could shoot from SF to LA during the same hour as well. That would mean a total of 960 per hour.

The hyperloop would only have to operate about 10.5 hours per day in order to satisfy the current number of people who fly commercially between LA and SF each day.

The initial cost would be very expensive.... but the cost of flying roughly 125 commercial flights between those cities every single day compounded over several years is also extremely high. Over time, it would pay itself off.