Tonight's The Boring Company Information Session was the right place to be if you wanted to hear Elon Musk's latest plans for the underground network in LA. Musk and the project leader Steve Davis talked about their own visions for the future of the underground network.
Earlier, before the session, Musk retweeted LA Metro tweet announcing the prolonged partnership with The Boring Company and that they are going forward with their plans to build in-city Loop for the underground fast travel system. Musk also mentioned his vision for the network, explaining that a single ride would cost $1 and could carry up to 16 passengers. There will be hundreds of parking space-size tunnels throughout the city.
The first major challenge when you are building this kind of project is to dig all those tunnels underneath the city. Musk has already dug out a tunnel on the SpaceX property and the plan is to keep going. He is forcing the team underground to dig faster.
Currently, their goal is to dig the tunnels with the pace of a snail (0.03 MPH) and then move on to the 1/10th of the average walking speed of a human (0.3 MPH). The biggest problem when it comes to digging a tunnel is the fact that they need to reinforce the tunnel after achieving even the smallest distances, and then move all the dirt out of the tunnel. These procedures take a lot of time.
Another challenge when it comes to the high-speed underground travel is the fact that passengers need to feel comfortable at high speeds. The company has already conducted test runs and reached a couple of hundred miles an hour speed.
According to the Musk's plan, the vacuum Hyperloop tubes will enable traveling at 300 MPH. Passengers need to feel safe and comfortable while experiencing these higher G-forces.