Elon Musk unveils Los Angeles tunnel plan

Elon Musk, the boss of Tesla and SpaceX, has opened the first tunnel in a planned network under Los Angeles to help ease congestion in the US city. The world’s media was invited this week to travel in the mile-long tunnel – built by Musk’s Boring Company under the Hawthorne district - in an electric Tesla vehicle. The trip was described as “almost a white knuckle ride” by the BBC: “A bumpy two-minute journey in a modified Model X through a concrete tunnel with a blue neon light in the ceiling.” A C
December 19, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
Elon Musk, the boss of 8534 Tesla and SpaceX, has opened the first tunnel in a planned network under Los Angeles to help ease congestion in the US city.


The world’s media was invited this week to travel in the mile-long tunnel – built by Musk’s Boring Company under the Hawthorne district - in an electric Tesla vehicle.

The trip was described as “almost a %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external white knuckle false https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-46616902 false false%> ride” by the BBC: “A bumpy two-minute journey in a modified Model X through a concrete tunnel with a blue neon light in the ceiling.”

A CNN %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external video false https://edition.cnn.com/2018/12/19/tech/boring-company-tunnel-elon-musk/index.html false false%> shows how vehicles are lowered in lifts into the tunnel system before travelling on modified tracking wheels: “The narrow space made the low speeds — we travelled mostly at 35 mph — feel faster. It felt like an amusement park ride.”

Musk says that vehicles could eventually travel at 150mph and he has plans for other tunnelling projects in Washington, DC and Chicago.

But Musk, whose SpaceX brand is also working on a separate Hyperloop initiative, does not deny that there is a long road ahead. “We’re obviously at the early stages here. This is a prototype. We're figuring things out,” he told reporters.

Urban Traffic Control

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Intelematics: five takeaways from ITS World Congress in Singapore
    October 31, 2019
    If you weren’t fortunate enough to be at the 26th ITS World Congress in Singapore – fear not! Stephen Owens of Intelematics takes you through his highlights of the show… Having recently topped the world’s first Smart City Index, Singapore was the ideal host city for this year’s ITS World Congress and provided a fantastic opportunity to bring the International ITS community to the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. Themed ‘smart mobility, empowering cities,’ it was an enjoyable week full of networking and lea
    Read More
  • ISS Europe and CitySync showcase Jet-Aludra intelligent ANPR camera
    October 22, 2012
    Image Sensing Systems Europe and CitySync, specialists in detection and ANPR solutions for the ITS market, have used the ITS World Congress to showcase the Jet-Aludra which incorporates an IR ANPR camera, colour overview camera and an on-board processor. This cost effective Intelligent ANPR camera processes images at the time of capture, so smaller packets of information can be transferred via wireless 3G or wired connections to a central server for review or directly to a police back office facility, match
    Read More
  • Baidu tests two driverless cars on China expressway
    June 27, 2018
    Chinese artificial intelligence company Baidu has tested two self-driving cars for the first time along a 33km section of an unused expressway in Tianjin City. A news report says that the trial helped developers collect data on the cars’ performance and their ability to sense the road environment. The test site is part of the Tangshan-Langfang expressway, which is scheduled to open in the Hebei province later this year.
    Read More
  • DiDi Chuxing to expand into Chilean cities
    September 24, 2019
    Chinese ride-hailing company DiDi Chuxing is to expand to 14 cities in Chile by the end of the year, according to a report by China Daily. Mi Yang, DiDi's head of operations in Latin America, says the company is aiming to provide a safe mobility service which will include an emergency hotline allowing passengers to communicate with the team. DiDi says the service will expand in October to the northern cities of Antofagasta, La Serena and Coquimbo; central cities of Rancagua, Talca, Concepcion and Temuco;
    Read More

Highlighted Content