Revolutionizing Traffic-Free Transportation in the US

The Trump/Musk duo will be the best of all hellish worlds for science fiction writers.

Please note that this is a collection of strictly confidential and encrypted messages that were exchanged between Elon Musk and Donald Trump before, during and after the Republican candidate's victory in 2024. I will not reveal here how I obtained access to the messages, because that could expose my source to prison… or to winning a Nobel Prize for hacktivism.

The story of the hacking of Musk and Trump's phones, computers and other equipment will be told another time. Here I will focus only on the grand project that will be put into practice as soon as Trump takes office and announces massive cuts in US spending on NATO. This money will be placed in the hands of the owner of SpaceX, but it cannot be used to build a freeway to Mars. Musk's mission will be to revolutionize traffic-free transportation in the US.

Musk intends to take cars off the streets, but they will paradoxically continue to move on them. The concept of movement without moving is similar to that seen in Dune and in the film adaptations of this literary work, which according to the electric car manufacturer is not just fictional.

Saving energy while moving is a challenge imposed by physics that can and will be overcome. It is not just electric cars that will benefit. Trump demanded that gasoline-powered cars also be included in Musk's project and was immediately accepted by the guy who ordered a banana to be thrown into the cargo hold of his huge rocket.

The concept of traffic-free transportation is completely revolutionary. It will take cars off the roads. Fundamental technological aspects of the Hyperloop will be recycled, Musk told Trump. At first, Musk had imagined the concept of moving roads. But it was immediately abandoned, because Trump laughed at this brilliant idea that, according to Musk, would certainly be approved by the American press after a public relations campaign.

The second proposal presented by the special advisor to the future US president was that of high tech catapults. These will be installed on highways to propel cars towards their destinations. The last mile would be covered by the vehicles partly by inertia and partly by their engines running. Trump also rejected this concept, because it seemed like a silly idea to turn American highways into huge aircraft carrier runways.

The final concept presented by Musk to Trump was the one that won the sympathy of the most powerful man in the West. In addition to resolving the issue and making traffic-free transportation feasible, the last concept devised by the special advisor would represent an additional incentive for the American automotive industry. Drivers could choose to buy the right to use the cars without necessarily acquiring ownership. In addition, a portion of the cars used in the system could also leave the factories without combustion engines, electric motors, and extremely expensive lithium batteries, something that would increase the profits of American automakers.

After receiving Trump's approval, Musk immediately began working on the prototype that will be presented to the public. In one of the messages, he stated to Trump that he would soon send the president a video simulating the entire cycle of the new transportation system that will be made available to Americans. Musk has also used some of his personal resources to diversify his portfolio in order to profit from the implementation of the revolutionary car-based traffic-free transportation system.

Immense articulated carrier trucks capable of carrying 60 conventional and electric vehicles will soon be traveling on American highways. Initially, some of these trucks will be diesel-powered, but Musk already has a plan to electrify the new system. An application is also being developed to organize the loading and unloading logistics of the “Surface Hyperloop” (note: this name was suggested by Trump and accepted reluctantly by Musk), in order to optimize the service. The cars without engines or batteries will always be the first on the trucks, and pedestrians will access them via special ramps on the side of the road.

A new piece of legislation will have to be introduced in Congress to allow automakers to also operate the new system with their own fleets of carrier truck. Individual truck drivers and truck driver cooperatives will be prohibited from operating the system or from establishing a similar alternative system to misappropriate a share of the profits.

The hacker assured me that he does not intend to use the new Trumpian/Muskian transportation system. He fears that groups of libertarian activists, Midwestern rednecks, and crazy Texans will begin to organize to violently defend the freedom of drivers and car owners to use the roads of the United States exclusively. The use of passenger cars on the highways is a centuries-old American tradition guaranteed by the First Amendment to the US Constitution. This issue is unlikely to go unchallenged in lower courts and even in the Supreme Court.

Furthermore, according to the hacker, whose name cannot be revealed here, the invasion of the US highways by articulated carrier truck carrying 60 vehicles is not a Frank Herbert utopia. This seems less like a solution to the traffic problem and more like a nightmare worthy of a Stephen King novel.