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You may remember not so long ago, Elon Musk decided he wanted to build underground tunnels because traffic in Los Angeles was getting too much for him to bear.
Now three months later, we have a clearer picture of what these tunnels will look like and how they will work, thanks to Musk’s recently-formed tunnelling and infrastructure firm called The Boring Company.
A visualisation of the concept shows a car driving into a “skate” (the tunnel’s carrying system) at street level.
After descending underground, electric skates travelling at 124mph transport the car through a 3D tunnel network before raising the vehicle back to street level.
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You may have thought Musk was joking when he announced the idea on Twitter and then kept us updated with the progress…
It shall be called "The Boring Company"
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 17, 2016
Boring, it's what we do
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 17, 2016
Exciting progress on the tunnel front. Plan to start digging in a month or so.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 25, 2017
And we start digging the tunnel tonight https://t.co/UYSIU0qg34
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 28, 2017
But then last month, he started creating merchandise for the new firm…
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 6, 2017
Elaborating his plans at the 2017 TED Conference in Canada, Musk explained how his 3D tunnel infrastructure would work.
“You have to be able to integrate the entrances and exits of the tunnels seamlessly into the fabric of the city,” he said.
“By having an elevator – a sort of a car skate – you can integrate the entrances and exits of the tunnel network just by using two parking spaces.
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He added: “There is no speed limit here. We are designing this to be able to operate at around 130mph. You should be able to get from Westwood to LAX in five or six minutes.”
Musk said he devotes only around 3% of his time to the Boring company, calling it more of a hobby.
The idea of faster travel that doesn’t involve burning fossil fuels certainly sounds great on paper, but it not clear if the SpaceX and Tesla founder will actually be able to put his plans into action, given the mammoth task of drilling tonnes and tonnes of hard rock underground.
