Elon Musk wants to bring high-speed "loop" transport to Chicago — and instead of just declaring that it's going to happen, as is his standard operating procedure, it looks like he's actually going to get in on a formal project bidding process.
Musk tweeted out a Chicago Sun Times article about the Chicago Infrastructure Trust's call for bids on a new public transportation project that aims to cut down commuting time between O'Hare Airport and the city's downtown area. Chicago Deputy Mayor Bob Rivkin specifically name-dropped the Tesla/SpaceX/Boring Company boss in the piece, saying that he hoped Musk and his peers would take a shot at building the shuttle.
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The Boring Company will step into the fray, looking to have a shot at bringing its work to the Midwest. Musk famously appeared to jump the gun describing his plans to expand his tunneling project on the East Coast of the US when he tweeted that he was given "verbal permission" to build a high-speed system between New York City and Washington, DC — but Maryland state officials later publicly gave him permission to dig there, so the project might be closer to reality than first thought.
Musk answered a few questions from Twitter followers about what the Boring Company might have in store for the project, and it sounds like his plans might not be a full-on hyperloop system, which seemed to be in the plans for the NYC-DC tunnels. Instead, the pitch might look more like like Arrivo's recently announced project in Denver, which is more of a high-speed rail concept than a hyperloop.
Musk clarified the "Loop" he mentioned would be "kinda" like the company's electric skate concept shown off in promo videos, but the system wouldn't use the vacuum environment within the tubes that his hyperloop blueprints describe to reach speeds of up to 750 mph.
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He says the system is likea hyperloop, but it's really not. The electric pods that people would travel in are similar to those imagined by hyperloop projects, but without the vacuum, it's not the same thing.
Even if the Boring Company won't be building a true-blue hyperloop in Chicago, the project could still be an exciting addition to the city's infrastructure for locals and visitors alike — but the city will need to pick a design for the system first. Companies can submit their bids until Jan. 24, then one or more of the "most-qualified" entrants will advance to a more official request-for-proposal phase.
