How is this backtracking? Nothing has changed. He made it very clear from the beginning that this is an idea of his that he wants to release to the public, not work on it himself.<p>Somebody then had the audacity to pester him with Hyperloop on the earnings call for Tesla. It's like asking the president about his veggie garden while hes giving a press conference on the war on (whistleblowers|drugs|terror).
If you're interested in undrestanding ZEV credits and its impact on Tesla's bottom line ($5000/car) read bellow [1]<p>Also, worth noting other automakers are slowly catching up. Remember Tesla had a big start with their roadster, but expect fierce competition from Japanese and European automakers. Which is all good for consumers.<p>1 : <a href="http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/08/tesla-subsidy-vanishing-amid-electric-vehicle-boom/" rel="nofollow">http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/08/tesla-subsidy-vanishing...</a>
Title should remove backtracking. I don't think he ever said he'd build the hyperloop himself - though I don't personally trust anyone other than him to build it out successfully.
Interesting production numbers. The model S is now outselling the Chevrolet Corvette, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Corvette_(redirect)#Production" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Corvette_(redirect)#P...</a>
Commentors point out that Elon is not really backtracking, though I would still be curious what he means by shooting himself in the foot. The article says he regrets mentioning the Hyperloop. So despite his intentions to open up his designs, there must be some downsides he is considering, whether outstanding personal profit or otherwise.
There is interesting article about hyperloop desing, based on Musk's hints: <a href="http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/how-elon-musk-can-build-the-hyperloop-in-10-days-for-a-tenth-the-cost-of-high-speed-rail" rel="nofollow">http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/how-elon-musk-can-build-the...</a>
Link-bait title. Is interesting the Musk said on twitter that a particular design was "the closest he had seen", but didn't say it hit the bullseye.
It's more like he's trying to sell a car while publishing plans for a high speed people mover. You can just hope it won't displace the electric car in the inner city until Tesla become really profitable but you never know.
It's a risky move that could potentially affect Tesla later on.
There's a hangout with Elon Musk and Sir Richard Branson going on now; the host asked Elon about Hyperloop, and he spent nice 5 minutes avoiding to answer it :(. He only confirmed that it's a tube (but not evacuated), with little friction, and that you'll have to go a little bit faster than sound. He also said that details will be posted on-line.