In 2016 Elon Musk complained on Twitter on traffic jams in Los Angeles, and on the same day created The Boring Company.
This company was to build a system of high-speed tunnels under Los Angeles to offload land traffic.
Almost 7 years have passed since then. During this time, the principle of operation of the tunnels has seriously changed, as well as the plans of the company.
The Boring Company appeared as part of SpaceX
The Boring Company was established on December 17, 2016 as a subsidiary of SpaceX.
It’s impossible for everyone to use a “two-dimensional road network,” Musk said, so it’s expensive to get up or down to unload.
About a month after its founding, The Boring Company began drilling tunnels on the grounds of SpaceX’s headquarters on a bicycle. This decision was made because the company did not need a building permit on its own territory.
In 2018, The Boring Company became a fully independent company. Musk’s stake in the company is 90%, the remaining 10% was redistributed between entries.
I perceive Musk as a hobby, despite the responsible tasks. According to him, he spent 2-3% of his time managing The Boring Company.
In November 2019, Steve Davis became president of the company. Before him, this position was held by Elon Musk. Davis was an early employee of SpaceX (he joined the company in 2003) and has many core areas of physics, including several individual and aerospace engineering.
A year later, the company began to expand. She rented two buildings in Austin and opened many new positions. Now The Boring Company employs fewer than 200 people.
Last year, The Boring Company raised $675 million at a $5.65 billion valuation.
The Boring Company’s first tunnel launched in Los Angeles
The Boring Company currently only has one tunnel in Los Angeles called the Boring Test Tunnel. It connects to the SpaceX office and a street in the city of Hawthorne, one of the suburbs of Los Angeles.
Its construction began in 2017 and was completed at the end of 2018.
A drilling rig with a diameter of 4.2 meters was used in the construction of the drilling test tunnel, resulting in a finished tunnel with a diameter of 3.8 meters. The length of the tunnel is 1.83 km.
The drilling test tunnel is used as a testing ground. The German company is testing new technologies that are sent from space to other objects.
Under construction it is assumed that cars will move in the tunnel at a speed of 240 km/h.. But during the opening of the Boring Test Tunnel, the test Tesla Model X reached a top speed of 65 km / h.
Also in the concept it is assumed that the cars will drive in the tunnel on special platforms. However, the company abandoned them in the use of wheel mounts in videos.
In mid-2019, The Boring Company paved the entire road in the tunnel and abandoned the rollers. Cars began to ride on possible wheels. Under the control of the autopilot, the maximum speed of the car is 140 km / h, with manual control – 187 km / h.
The Boring Company wanted to build two more tunnels in Los Angeles
In 2018, The Boring Company announced plans to build a 4.3 km long tunnel. It was supposed to be another test tunnel built with private investment.
He had to pass the parallel route 405 and Sepulveda Boulevard. At the same time, municipal lands were not used for construction.
But the project shut down after the company faced lawsuits and accusations of violating environmental regulations.
In August 2018, The Boring Company announced plans to build a tunnel between Dodger Stadium and Vermont Avenue. It was assumed that it would be financed by private investors and the state, and the continuation of construction for 14 months.
For some unknown reason, the project was closed. All references to him have disappeared from The Boring Company website.
Disadvantages of The Boring Company tunnels
Create a network of underground presidential tunnels. Under the cities there are already complex structures that prevent construction: the foundations of buildings, subways and parking lots. Partly because of this, the project was initially criticized by builders and drilling engineers.
Ready tunnels installed in the absence of corridors for an emergency exit, ventilation and fire extinguishing systems.
In addition, all The Boring Company tunnels are single-lane. In the event of an accident, car accident or any other inspection, the cars must not pass each other.
Journalists who were testing the first version of the tunnel in Los Angeles (before the asphalt was laid) picked up a wave during the trip.
The Boring Company builds tunnels in other cities
In May 2019, Las Vegas called for $48.7 million to build a tunnel that runs under the Las Vegas Convention Center and connects to a new exhibit hall with the central campus.
The LVCC Loop tunnel is 2.7 km high. It was opened in April 2021.
Before the LVCC Loop, visitors had to spend 45 minutes walking from one building to another. The tunnel allows you to travel the same distance in 2 minutes.
During CES 2023, the average trip wait time is less than 10 seconds. Total 94 exhibitors used the LVCC Loop during the exhibition.
At the end of 2023, construction is due to begin on a new tunnel that will connect the Resorts World hotel to the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Musk also plans to build a tunnel between Washington and Baltimore in 2017. But in 2019, the US Federal Highway Administration did not issue a building permit because the tunnel did not meet basic safety requirements, such as the number of emergency exits.
In 2021, The Boring Company removed the project from their website.
Source: Iphones RU
I am a professional journalist and content creator with extensive experience writing for news websites. I currently work as an author at Gadget Onus, where I specialize in covering hot news topics. My written pieces have been published on some of the biggest media outlets around the world, including The Guardian and BBC News.
