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

  • Rapidly-changing mobility environment is challenging policymakers, says UK DfT
    January 25, 2019
    Policy makers are working hard to make sense of a rapidly-changing mobility environment, according to a senior official from the UK’s Department for Transport (DfT). Ella Taylor, DfT’s head, future of mobility, Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (C/AV), says the pace of development in transportation modes, such as e-scooters (not currently allowed in the UK) and e-bikes (which are), presents difficulties for governments trying to create standards and laws. “Across the globe, different modes
    Read More
  • Cubic wins contract to mobilize LA Metro TAP Fare Payment System
    January 4, 2018
    Cubic Transportation Systems has been awarded a contract by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Authority (LA Metro), to deliver an integrated traveller app in support of the TAP regional contactless fare system. It is designed with the intention of allowing users to make a fare purchase, use their mobile device as a TAP card and complete their journey using transit, bikeshare, or other multimodal programs. It will also provide them with commute information. TAP links 24 transit agencies across the Los
    Read More
  • Terrorists could use driverless cars to mount attacks, researchers warn
    February 22, 2018
    UK Researchers in Oxford and Cambridge have echoed concerns raised by ITS International two years ago about terrorists who could use autonomous cars to carry out attacks – in a report by The Telegraph. The 26 experts including those from Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute, Cambridge’s Centre For the Study of Existential Risk and OpenAI warned that terrorists could exploit the risks in artificial intelligence (AI) to carry out driverless car crashes and cyber attacks. They added that AI is being rapid
    Read More
  • New multi-year deal between TAG Systems and Evry
    November 20, 2013
    A new multi-year supply contract gives Evry the exclusivity to distribute TAG Systems products including card bodies, dual interface cards, chips, PKI applications and other value-added products and services in the Nordic and Baltic countries. The contract between the two companies will enable TAG Systems to maintain its predominant position in northern Europe, the company states.
    Read More

Highlighted Content