— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 20, 2017 So, what to make of Musk's backtracking? It seems that his team and the White House have made progress on the issue. "The Boring Company has had a number of promising conversations with local, state and federal government officials," a spokesperson for the company told the BBC, adding that the company has received "verbal support from key government decision-makers" for tunneling plans that include a route from New York to Washington, D.C. But such a major project would likely lead to extensive planning, regulation and environmental reviews and would require state level approval, not just a thumbs-up from the White House. In Musk's plan to build underground tubes, capsules levitate above magnetic tracks using air bearings, which raised concerns about the system's ability to withstand earthquakes. And the speeds and gravitational forces to which passengers would be subjected will no doubt require much attention as the project comes closer to reality. The Boring Company spokesperson said that they expected to "secure the formal approvals necessary to break ground later this year." And the company already has completed a first successful test of the underground electric sleds that would be used to transport cars at 125 miles per hour in Hyperloop tunnels. Other companies working on Hyperloop have predicted the first system will be in place by 2020. All this suggests that despite Musk's optimism and signs of progress, travelers will probably not be able to hop onto a Hyperloop train before the end of Trump's first term. Sorry, Mr. President. \ \ Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground. \ \ \ ';uncommonKnowledgeItems[0].insertAdjacentHTML('afterend',uncommonKnowledgeContainerHtml);let uncommonKnowledgeContainerElement=document.getElementsByClassName('uncommon-knowledge');let itemsContainerElement=document.getElementById('uncommon-knowledge-items-container');uncommonKnowledgeContainerElement[0].style.display='block';uncommonKnowledgeItems.forEach((itemUncommon)=>{document.getElementById('uncommon-knowledge-items-container').insertAdjacentHTML('beforeend','