Elon Musk Doesn't Have Time For 'Hyperloop' And He Knows It

It's fun to get excited about innovation and technology, and it's definitely fun to get excited about speed, but when it comes to Elon Musk's "Hyperloop" it's also important to remember that these things take time, money, and lots of hard work — none of which he's really putting into the project.

"Hyperloop" is Musk's vision for a high speed transit system that would take commuters from San Francisco to Los Angeles in half an hour. It sounds like driver's Shangri-La — a road where cars never crash and weather has no impact.

Today, he's supposed to unveil "detailed" design plans for the project but don't expect them to be anywhere near actionable.

On the Tesla earnings conference call last week, Musk admitted that he didn't have time for "Hyperloop". In fact, he said he regretted even mentioning the idea.

...I kind of shot myself by ever mentioning the Hyperloop because I'm too strong I mean obviously have to focus on core business and SpaceX business and that's more than enough. But I did commit to publishing a design and provide quite a detailed design I think on Monday and then invite critical feedback and see if the people can find ways to improve it and then you can just be out there it's kind of like a open source design that maybe you can keep improving.

So, actually, the Musk maniacs and Tesla faithful that are pressing him to release a design are the ones that may end up improving it. But they're not Elon Musk. They didn't sell their first computer game at age 12. They are not the ones with the cult following and resources to make something happen.

Speaking of those resources, right now, Musk admits that they're are stretched too thin for him to make this dream a reality.

...I don't have any plans to execute, because I must remain focused on SpaceX and Tesla. If nothing happens for a few years, with that I mean maybe it could make sense to make the halfway path with Tesla involvement...

Before Musk brings the "Hyperloop" onto Tesla he has a few promises to keep that relate specifically to the car company.

First, Musk needs to work on finishing the development of the Model X, which he has said that he's "allocating an increasing portion of... time to.. every week." Even that, though, he said was a qualitative statement.

And lets not forget that "Tesla involvement" could mean Tesla cash — cash which the company's CFO said would be spent on R&D more in the future than we've seen in the last couple of quarters. The company will be ramping up capital expenditures as well. That means less money for side projects, obviously.

But hey, if Elon wants to pull a rabbit out of a hat for us today, he can go for it.