Hyperloop: Supersonic system is 1000% improvement on current transport says director Peter Diamandis

The founding director of Hyperloop Technologies, the startup behind Elon Musk's vision to create supersonic land transport, has said that he believes the system is a 1000% improvement on today's transport.

In a post to Singularity Hub on 16 February, Peter Diamandis described the concept of Hyperloop as "a cross between Concorde, a railgun and a bullet train" and said that it is "for sure a 10x improvement over today's transportation system."

When built, the vacuum tube transportation network would take travellers from San Francisco to Los Angeles in 35 minutes, at top speeds of 760mph.

While it is still a long way off from being realised, Hyperloop Technologies has already raised $8.5m (£5.5m) in seed funding and is planning an A-Round of $80 million later this year.

The secret to success, according to Diamandis, is "being bold" and aiming for 1000% improvements instead of "mere 10% gains", a philosophy taken from GoogleX director Astro Teller.

"When you try to do something radically hard, you approach the problem differently than when you try to make something incrementally better," Diamandis said.

"When you attack a problem as though it were solvable, even if you don't know how to solve it, you'll be shocked with what you come up with. It's 100 times more worth it. It's never 100 times harder."

By setting such a high goal, Diamandis argues that it attracts the best and brightest engineers and designers who are actually capable of making it a reality.

There are still a number of technical and political obstacles to be overcome but plans are currently underway to build a test track in downtown Los Angeles.

Elon Musk, who originally wrote the 2013 whitepaper detailing how the Hyperloop system would work, has also signalled his intention to set up an annual Hyperloop pod racer competition similar to Formula SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers).