Boring Co outlines plan to alleviate LA's 'soul destroying' traffic

The company says a 3D tunnel network beneath LA could be built with enough capacity to support traffic volume for the whole country.

Boring Co has reaffirmed its ambitious plan to revolutionize transportation, starting in the company's hometown of Los Angeles.

The company has launched a demonstration tunnel that travels just a bit longer than a mile beneath LA streets, serving as a proof-of-concept for elevator access and a simplified system for autonomous electric vehicles.

Rather than immediately deploying an electric 'skate' that can hold a car or a passenger pod, the demo tunnel is employing a set of guide wheels that attach to a Model X and keep the vehicle centered as it drives under its own power. Elon Musk promises the technology is "not meant to be some sort of walled garden or just for Teslas" and can be adapted to work with any autonomous EV.

Taking a demo ride will not surpass 40-50 mph, though the system is designed to support speeds of more than 150 mph through the main artery. With radar- and vision-based braking, the company estimates a single vehicle or passenger pod can be sent through every second.

The seemingly short tunnel previews technology that could be used to build a vast network of subterranean transportation tubes that promise to alleviate surface-level congestion via a multi-layered network. Musk suggests there is no limit and the system will not be prone to the theory of induced demand.

Unlike traditional vehicle tunnels, Boring Co's proposed elevators are said to take up the space of just two parking spaces. Musk says there can be "way more stations" than there is in a typical subway, minimizing the distance that needs to be traveled on the surface. As an added bonus, the tunnel boring machines (TBMs) can expand the network without shutting down surface streets.

"You can intersperse stations throughout the city and not dump a ton of traffic in one part of the city," Musk added. "You can ensure that people can get closer to their destination and make sure you don't disrupt traffic around the elevator where the loop exits."

Using guide wheels helps reduce the diameter of the tunnel compared to the size typically needed to support manually-driven vehicles. Boring Co has also tripled the TBM power and revised how the system builds support structures and deals with spoils, which are compressed into bricks that can be sold for constructing buildings.

The company aims to slash tunnel digging time to just one mile per week, down from the current rate of about three to six months per mile.