The Boring Company

Elon Musk’s next project may be a bit more … boring than his previous endeavors.

The founder of SpaceX and Tesla is accustomed to flashy enterprises and larger-than-life dreams (that all seem to be coming to fruition), and now, he’s turning his attention to a simple problem that plagues all of us: Traffic. Because why shouldn’t it take us 29 minutes to get from New York to Washington D.C.? With Musk’s Boring Company, this could be our new reality.

A look at just how (not) boring the Boring Company really is

Just hours after the Boring Company received permission to build its most ambitious project yet in Chicago, Musk took to YouTube to share what appears to be the first full-scale test of a vehicle zooming through one of the company’s now-famous tunnels.

The video, aptly titled Model X Test Run, shows a Tesla Model X being moved through a tunnel underneath Los Angeles in much the way the team has previously described — the car itself doesn’t move, but rather is placed on two parallel tracks that appear to propel the car forward through the cavernous underground space. This particular Model X didn’t seem to be hauling along at supersonic speeds, but hey — one step at a time, right?

Boring in Chicago

It’s not just our nation’s capital where work is being done. In June 2018, the mayor’s office of Chicago announced that the Boring Company had been tapped to begin construction on a tunnel to link O’Hare International airport and downtown Chicago. In total, this project will be comprised of 18 miles of rail for the self-driving, 16-passenger cars that are capable of hitting top speeds of 150 miles per hour. It also represents the largest contract the Boring Company has secured thus far.

While it’s unclear when construction will be finished (or how much it will cost), current plans suggest that it would take just 12 minutes to get from the Loop in downtown Chicago to O’Hare airport. The proposed ticket price is currently somewhere in the $20 to $25 range.

A nearly complete tunnel in LA

Back in May, Musk revealed that the Boring Company’s very first tunnel was nearly complete. The 2.7-mile long route is in Los Angeles, and on May 10, the entrepreneur shared a video of the tunnel on Instagram.

“Pending final regulatory approvals, we will be offering free rides to the public in a few months,” he noted. “As mentioned in prior posts, once fully operational (demo system rides will be free), the system will always give priority to pods for pedestrians & cyclists for less than the cost of a bus ticket.” The Los Angeles Times further noted that the route is “parallel to Sepulveda Boulevard, starting at Pico Boulevard and running down to Washington Boulevard in Culver City,” and that the tunnel itself is 30 to 70 feet underground.

A sneak peek at what’s boring

Previously, in March, Musk teased us with a quick look at what the future of transportation might look like. In a series of tweet, the executive noted that the Boring Company would focus on shuttles rather than cars, and will move both people and bicycles from Point A to Point B. This, Musk says, will aid in the company’s aim to “prioritize pedestrians [and] cyclists over cars.” This is a matter of “courtesy and fairness,” the entrepreneur tweeted. “If someone can’t afford a car, they should go first.”

Adjusting The Boring Company plan: all tunnels & Hyperloop will prioritize pedestrians & cyclists over cars — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 9, 2018

In total, the Boring Company’s urban loop system will have thousands of stations about the size of a standard parking space that will take riders to their destinations, but will “blend seamlessly into the fabric of a city.”

Better video coming soon, but it would look a bit like this: pic.twitter.com/C0iJPi8b4U — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 9, 2018

From D.C. to New York in 30 minutes

2018 as a whole has been an exciting one for the Boring Company. At the beginning of the year, the Washington Post reported, “The Boring Company team has received an early, and vague, building permit from the D.C. government that will allow some preparatory and excavation work at the fenced-off parking lot at 53 New York Avenue NE beside a McDonald’s and amid the construction cranes of Washington’s booming NoMa neighborhood.” A spokesperson for the company also noted that “a New York Avenue location, if constructed, could become a station.”

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