For the first public demonstration of The Boring Company’s Hawthorne Test Tunnel, a Tesla electric vehicle fitted with alignment wheels has taken passengers for a ride at speeds of 80 km/h (50 mph).
Constructed by The Boring Company as a means to alleviate what they describe as “soul-destroying traffic”, the test tunnel stretches 1.83 km (1.14 mi) and has elevator platforms located at either end.
Equipping the Tesla Model X SUV with retractable alignment wheels to guide and keep the car from hitting the side of the tunnel while moving along the track, Elon Musk, the founder of The Boring Company, has said at a press briefing that the alignment wheel configuration can be installed onto a vehicle for “$200 to $300”.
Capable of enabling autonomous electric vehicles to travel up to 241 km/h (150 mph), Musk has described the test tunnel as “a little rough around the edges” due to the concrete shelves that guide the vehicles being poorly paved. Various journalists and VIPs who were invited to experience travelling through the test tunnel on the Tesla Model X SUV have described the ride as “very bumpy”.
“To solve the problem of soul-destroying traffic, roads must go 3D, which means either flying cars or tunnels,” said The Boring Company in a statement. “Unlike flying cars, tunnels are weatherproof, out of sight and won’t fall on your head. A large network of tunnels many levels deep would help alleviate congestion in any city, no matter how large it grew (just keep adding levels).”
Costing $10 Million to construct the Hawthorne Test Tunnel, The Boring Company has committed to lowering costs and increasing the efficiency of construction so that a tunnel network will become economically viable.
