Elon Musk announced this Wednesday via Twitter that The Boring Company has officially started operations. Godot has begun digging under Los Angeles and already completed the first segment of the first tunnel.
Under Musk’s vision, Los Angeles’ insufferable traffic jams would be partially solved by a somewhat unusual proposal: an underground, interconnected network of fast-lane tunnels that can transport cars, people, and even possibly a Hyperloop track.
In spite of being fully up and running mere months after its public introduction, The Boring Company is just the billionaire entrepreneur’s latest hobby. He has referred to it in the past as a venture “run by interns” and that only occupies 1% of his time as a tech executive.
LAX to Culver City fast track is happening
Last month, Elon Musk described the initial plans for the first stage of the Los Angeles underground tunnel network: the first segment would run from the LAX airport to Culver City. This part would then be connected to Santa Monica, Westwood, and Sherman Oaks with more tunnels.
On Wednesday, the executive said the machine had “just completed the first segment” of the L.A. tunnel, suggesting the first leg of the track is already a done deal.
Nobody knows exactly where, how deep, nor how far The Boring Company has dug, but what is clear is that they have managed to get the widely demonized city permissions it required to do so.
Reports earlier this month highlighted conversations between L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti and Elon Musk were “promising,” and the government official even praised the underground technology the CEO was developing as a potential solution to city traffic.
Boring CO. tunnel networks might come sooner than the Hyperloop
At the current pace The Boring Company is operating, it is likely that a significant portion of its L.A. underground system will be complete by the time a serious Hyperloop proposal breaks ground in the United States.
South Korea has recently announced a partnership with Hyperloop Transportation Technologies to build the first fast-rail system of its kind: the Hyper Tube Express (HTX). It would travel 200 miles from Seoul to Busan at 620 mph, meaning the whole ride would take only 20 minutes.
Musk’s concept project showed a Hyperloop-like vehicle transporting people with their bikes and pets underground; basically a faster and more compact version of a subway that would run alongside cars in superfast platforms to points across the city where they could surface to ground-level traffic again.
Source: Twitter