Posted on 10/23/2020 1:38:28 PM PDT by Excuse_My_Bellicosity
Elon Musk has been widely mocked after revealing the final version of his much-hyped underground transportation project.
The Tesla and SpaceX founder’s Boring Company has been building a prototype tunnel system under Los Angeles since 2016 in a bid to relieve traffic congestion.
It had been linked to the billionaire’s futuristic “hyperloop” concept of pods suspended on magnets travelling hundreds of kilometres an hour through vacuum tubes.
While The Boring Company’s test tunnel did not feature an air vacuum, it promised to create a new kind of private, public and commercial transport system using special vehicles propelled on electric skates.
That concept has now been ditched in favour of a more conventional solution — a car in a tunnel. A video released by The Boring Company on Friday shows dashcam footage of a Tesla Model X travelling up to 200km/h through the now-paved tunnel.
It’s shown side-by-side with footage of the same journey being made through boring old, above-ground traffic, proving that a single car driving at top speed through a dedicated tunnel with no obstacles will get there faster.
“So you turned a four-minute commute into a 90-second commute and all you had to do was spend millions digging a tunnel directly from your house to your destination? Genius! Truly this is a wondrous breakthrough,” one Twitter user wrote.
Another said, “Imagine this. Build tunnels and have a passengers ride together so one vehicle is not restricted to one person. Build stations along the way for stops. It’s a wild idea I know.”
Asked why the original idea had been abandoned, Mr Musk replied, “This is simple and just works.” Another user suggested tunnels were “great things to run trains through, not cars”.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...
Meh. Gene Roddenberry did that in Genesis II.
Elon Musk. The PT Barnum of our age. How many people have bamboozled so many govts? My hat is off to him. He’s built a following that worships his footsteps and throws buckets of money at him for any idea he comes up with.
Its los angles - a single car? Rush hour should slow that to a crawl
The Boring company is one that uses electric cars in a tunnel. Article from today:
https://electrek.co/2020/10/21/tesla-vehicles-boring-company-loop-las-vegas/
Hyperlook should be something else. Anyhow....
Hyperloop is still an intriguing vision, but requires very long tunnels for relevance.
Just being able to efficiently (cheaply) bore tunnels for cars can be a boon for congested areas. One step at a time, get to something profitable ASAP to pay for accelerating R&D. EVs make tunnels easier by eliminating the fumes problem.
...and developing efficient boring machines will prove valuable for populating Moon/Mars. All Musk’s endeavors tie together, turning costly R&D into significant profit centers.
That is the whole point for many of us.
We DON'T want to have to ride with mentally ill, racist, or stinking passengers. We want to AVOID that. We DON'T want to make multiple stops, or as few as possible.
I find a hard time arguing with the results of SpaceX. That isn’t PT Barnum, all for show.
I disagree with you on that point.
Seruzawa, appreciate your service. Old timer like you. Musk has done some good things though that NASA/Russia/China can’t do:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sX1Y2JMK6g8
God bless.
Hate to be in it when the big one hits
Also a video made by a traffic engineer showing how Elon's Boring tunnels wont work because of how the entry and exit points will cause more traffic jams than his tunnels will alleviate.
Oh, I know that. But he does have a way of getting people to throw money at him unwisely. As I said. I admire his ability to do that.
After all. PT Barnum provided great spectacle and gave people their money’s worth when all was said and done.
How did anyone not already know this?
I view Tesla as a boondoggle (to get government funding) but they aren't bad looking cars and I wouldn't refuse one if given to me. That said...
He still looks like a Bond Villain!
...travelling hundreds of kilometres an hour through vacuum tubes....
Will I get whiplash when braking?
How good are the brakes?
Digging transportation tunnels in a geologically active area? What could possibly go wrong?
The idea of traveling miles in a tunnel makes me feel vulnerable and claustrophobic.
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