Many probably thought that Elon Musk was only joking through his frustration with the Los Angeles traffic congestion when he tweeted about starting a tunnel company, but it turns out he really wasn't kidding.
On April 28, Musk revealed just how serious he really was about his plans to dig a massive tunnel system under Los Angeles to ease traffic congestion at a TED Conference in Vancouver. To give participants a better idea of what The Boring Company will be up to, the SpaceX cofounder, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) debuted the concept video of his plans.
The Boring Company
Musk's vision includes Tesla vehicles, a street-level platform, and a massive underground transport system. But that's not all because the beauty is in applying the concept of the Hyperloop, which he proposed in 2013.
The street-level platform functions both as an elevator and the transport platform. The platform would start out on the side of a street where a Tesla vehicle would park. The platform would then act as an elevator which would descend with the Tesla vehicle to a series of multi-level tunnels. Once secured in the proper tunnel, the platform would function as a transport system that accelerates to about 130 miles per hour — because there is no speed limit in the tunnel — and take the vehicle to the desired exit.
"We're trying to dig a hole under LA, and this is to create the beginning of what will be a 3D network of tunnels to alleviate congestion... You should be able to get from Westwood to LAX in 5-6 minutes," Musk says in the TED Conference interview.
Watch the concept video for The Boring Company's transport tunnels below.
Tunnels And Hyperloop
Some people may be wondering how The Boring Company differs from or connects with the Hyperloop — an endeavor that SpaceX is also pushing. The more obvious answer is that the Hyerloop aims to be a mass transport system — something faster than a bullet train that can haul freight and people.
The main connection between the two systems is SpaceX. That is, development of the technology to make The Boring Company's 3D tunnels and high-speed transportation system come true will be led by SpaceX Senior Engineer Steve Davis.
Apart from that, Musk also revealed that plans for the underground system will be massive enough to accommodate about 30 layers of tunnels and a Hyperloop.
However, Musk also admits that The Boring Company is not his focus right now. At the moment, he is only giving the tunnels about 2 or 3 percent of his attention and Tesla employees and interns are only working part-time on the project.
What we're sure of, however, is that Musk has no plans of developing flying cars because it's noisy, anxiety building, and dangerous.
"You'll be thinking, 'Did they service their hubcap, or is it going to come off and guillotine me?" he said.
