We're becoming used to Tesla CEO Elon Musk launching bold and ambitious schemes for the future, and the latest one is particularly interesting. Plans have been detailed for a separate company created to dig high-tech tunnels below cities to alleviate traffic congestion.
Called 'The Boring Company', the new venture hopes to bore out a large-scale network of tunnels filled with high-speed 'sleds' - electrically powered car carrier platforms which follow a fixed route and are capable of up to 124mph.
The idea is that a car would drive onto the sled platform at street level and would then be lowered through the road down into the tunnel. It then speeds off and merges with other tunnel traffic autonomously. As the Boring Company launch video shows, cars of various shapes and sizes can queue up to use the platforms, allowing a much quicker crossing of the city than would be possible by fighting through surface traffic.
Musk has predicted that, using the tunnels, a driver would be able to complete a journey from the Los Angeles suburb of Westwood to LAX airport in "5 to 6 minutes" instead of the usual 30 minutes to an hour, depending on traffic.
The ambitious plans are only at the concept stage for now, although the first tunnel boring machine has been spotted at Musk's 'SpaceX' base in California. Expect to see the first trial tunnels being dug in the next few years.
What do you think of Elon Musk's Boring Company venture? Let us know in the comments section...
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