Page 28 - AT

A28 SCIENCE
Thursday 20 december 2018
Elon Musk's new tunnel 'a little rough around the edges'

By AMANDA LEE MYERS 10 cents.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Elon "I really think this is incredibly
Musk unveiled his under- profound," he said. "Hope-
ground transportation tun- fully that is coming across."
nel on Tuesday, allowing He reiterated the simplicity
reporters and invited guests of all his ideas.
to take some of the first "No Nobel Prize is needed
rides in the revolutionary here," he said. "It's very sim-
albeit bumpy subterranean ple."
tube — the tech entrepre- And he's not doing it for
neur's answer to what he the money, he said, add-
calls "soul-destroying traf- ing that it's for the greater
fic." good. In his 16 years in Los
Guests boarded Musk's Tes- Angeles, he said, traffic
la Model X and rode along went from "the seventh lev-
Los Angeles-area surface el of hell to the eighth level
streets about a mile (1.6 of hell."
kilometers) away to what's "Traffic is soul-destroying.
known as O'Leary Station. It's like acid on the soul," he
The station, smack dab in said to party guests who
the middle of a residential snacked on marshmallow
neighborhood — "basically treats and hot dogs and
in someone's backyard," hoped for a turn in the tun-
Musk says — consists of a Elon Musk, co-founder and chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., arrives in a modified Tesla Model nel.
X electric vehicle during an unveiling event for the Boring Company Hawthorne test tunnel in
wall-less elevator that slow- Hawthorne, Calif., on Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2018. The tunnel will not be open
ly took the car down a wide Associated Press to the public for the fore-
shaft, roughly 30 feet (9 me- seeable future, just for invit-
ters) below the surface. why it's a little rough around most two years to the day side wheels that pop out ed VIPs, Musk said, adding
The sky slowly fell away and the edges." since Musk announced on perpendicular to the car's that regulations wouldn't
the surprisingly narrow tun- Later in the day, Musk Twitter that "traffic is driving regular tires and run along allow for it to open widely
nel emerged. emerged from the tunnel me nuts" and he was "go- the tunnel's track. They for demo rides just yet.
"We're clear," said the driv- himself inside one of his ing to build a tunnel boring would run about $200 or Steve Davis, head of The
er, who sped up and zipped cars. He high-fived guests machine and just start dig- $300 a car, Musk said. Boring Company, said the
into the tunnel when a red and pumped his fists in ging." The cars would have to interest in the tunnel sys-
track light turned green, the air before delivering a "I am actually going to do be autonomous to work tems has been significant
making the tube look like speech in the green glow this," he added in response in the system but not Tes- — anywhere from five to 20
something from space or a of the tunnel about the to initial skepticism. Soon las specifically, and they calls a week from various
dance club. technology and why it after, he began The Bor- would have to be electric municipalities and stake-
The car jostled significantly makes sense. ing Company, tongue in because of the fumes from holders.
during the ride, which was The demo rides were con- cheek intentional. gas, Musk said. One project Musk is plan-
bumpy enough to give siderably slower — 40 mph Since then, Musk has only He said tunnels are the saf- ning on, known as the Dug-
one reporter motion sick- (64 kph) — than what Musk revealed a handful of pho- est place to be in earth- out Loop, would take Los
ness while another yelled, says the future system will tos and videos of the tun- quakes — sort of how a Angeles baseball fans to
"Woo!" run at: 150 mph (241 kph). nel's progress. submarine during a hur- Dodger Stadium from one
Musk described his first ride Still, it took only three min- On Tuesday, he explained ricane is safest beneath of three subway stations.
as "epic." utes to go just over a mile for the first time in detail just the surface — and ad- Another would take travel-
"For me it was a eureka mo- from the beginning to the how the system, which he dressed other concerns ers from downtown Chica-
ment," he told a room full end of the tunnel, the same simply calls "loop," could such as the noise and dis- go to O'Hare International
of reporters. "I was like, 'This amount of time it took to work on a larger scale be- ruption of building the tun- Airport. Both projects are in
thing is going to damn well accomplish a right-hand neath cities across the nels, which he completely the environmental review
work.'" turn out of the parking lot globe. Autonomous, elec- dismissed. When workers phase. Musk said he thinks
He said the rides are bumpy and onto a surface street tric vehicles could be low- bored through the end of the Chicago project has
now because "we kind of even before the height of ered into the system on the test tunnel, for instance, the most potential to open
ran out of time" and there Los Angeles' notorious rush- wall-less elevators the size the people in the home 20 soonest and that he's hop-
were some problems with hour traffic. of two cars or spiral ramps. feet (6 meters) away "didn't ing an extensive network
the speed of his paving The tunnel is just a test The elevators could be even stop watching TV." opens in Los Angeles be-
machine. to prove the technology placed almost anywhere Musk said it took about $10 fore the city hosts the 2028
"It'll be smooth as glass," he works and could one day cars can go. million to build the test tun- Olympics. "Wouldn't it be in-
said of future systems. "This cure traffic. A number of autonomous nel, a far cry from the $1 bil- credible if you could travel
is just a prototype. That's Tuesday's reveal comes al- cars would remain inside lion per mile his company around LA, New York, D.C.,
the tunnel system just for says most tunnels take to Chicago, Paris, London —
pedestrians and bicyclists. build. anywhere — at 150 mph?"
Once on the main arter- Musk has cut costs by im- Musk said. "That'd be phe-
ies of the system, every car proving the speed of con- nomenal." The Boring Com-
could run at top speed ex- struction with smarter tools, pany canceled its plans
cept when entering and eliminating middlemen, for another test tunnel on
exiting. building more powerful Los Angeles' west side last
"It's much more like an un- boring machines, and in- month after a neighbor-
derground highway than it stead of hauling out all hood coalition filed a law-
is a subway," Musk said. the dirt being excavated, suit expressing concerns
Cars would have to be fit- Musk is turning them into about increased traffic dur-
ted with specially designed bricks and selling them for ing construction.q