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Elon Musk Says He'll Start Digging a Tunnel From SpaceX HQ Next Month (techcrunch.com)

Posted by msmash on from the boring-company dept.

It appears Elon Musk is really serious about digging a tunnel to fix the traffic jams on roads. Last month, the SpaceX CEO sent out a string of tweets complaining about traffic. He suggested that a possible solution might be to start a tunnel-digging firm called -- wait for it -- The Boring Company, following it up by saying "I am actually going to do this," and updating his bio to read: "Tesla, SpaceX, Tunnels & OpenAI." This morning, he repeated the claim, and even assured a questioner that he was, in fact, serious. From a report on TechCrunch: Musk's tunnel plans, then, seem possibly aimed at reducing his travel time between SpaceX and LAX, at least initially. LAX is an airport he likely frequents with dizzying regularity, given his commitments at SpaceX, Tesla and SolarCity. [...] It's hard to gauge Musk's seriousness on Twitter, given his ability to come with fairly dry and playful responses. But he has insisted the tunnel plans were serious previously, and so far, nothing to indicate he's just joking has emerged. Here, too, he responded to a query from a fan wondering if he was serious with a simple "Yup," and he does include "Tunnels" as a list item of his concerns in his Twitter biography.

7 of 288 comments (clear)

  1. Wrong solution by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Insightful

    He is trying to build a better buggy whip. The solution to traffic congestion is not more infrastructure capacity, but using the capacity we have more efficiently. Automatic braking, lane control and (eventually) SDCs, should be able to increase road capacity by a factor of 2 to 5. As the CEO of Tesla, he should focus on that. By the time the tunnel is built, it will no longer be needed.

    1. Re:Wrong solution by religionofpeas · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The closer a road operates to maximum theoretical capacity, the more dramatic the traffic congestion when something goes slightly wrong.

    2. Re:Wrong solution by religionofpeas · · Score: 5, Funny

      The obvious solution is to dig only under your own property. Any two pieces of property can be connected by digging straight down from both of them until the tunnels intersect.

    3. Re:Wrong solution by EvilSS · · Score: 5, Funny

      On the flip side, tunnels have pretty much the same problem. Accidents outside a tunnel may close one or two lanes, but accidents inside a tunnel tend to lead to full tunnel closures.

      Just tunnel under the accident. It's tunnels all the way down!

      --
      I browse on +1 so AC's need not respond, I won't see it.
  2. Re:He seems to be completely bananas... by Notabadguy · · Score: 5, Funny

    You misunderstand.

    If he digs deeply enough, government won't know about it. Unless he delves too deeply and awaken a Balrog. Then he can blame it on Trump.

  3. Re:He seems to be completely bananas... by Quirkz · · Score: 5, Funny

    You mean Trump *isn't* the balrog?

    --
    The Quirkz Handbook of Self-Improvement for People Who Are Already Pretty Okay
  4. This fits the long term goal by ElizabethGreene · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Consider this in light of Mr. Musk's long term goal: Permanent human colonization of Mars.

    The high cosmic radiation on Mars means that Habitats are very likely to be underground. Today, no-one makes a tunnel boring machine that will fit on a rocket: Boring Inc.

    The lack of fossil fuels means you need a big power source: SolarCity and the battery Gigafactory

    Last but not least, you need a way to get there: SpaceX

    He's building the infrastructure to make his goal a reality.