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Elon Musk has released an image showing a tunnel under Hawthorne, California, near SpaceX's headquarters:
Musk's LA tunnel is a pilot project designed to test the feasibility of his plan to dig tunnels at a lower cost and more efficiently than current tunnel boring companies operate, with the eventual aim of supplying cities and regions with underground tunnel networks that can transport goods and services while avoiding surface obstacles and traffic.
The Boring Co. is still a long way from achieving the grand vision of constructing inter-city underground Hyperloop tubes for high-speed travel, but it's making rapid progress on its initial test digging and tunnel construction, which should go some way to proving to its detractors that this is more than just a pipe dream.
Also at Engadget and The Verge.
Previously: Elon Musk Wants to be Boring
Tunnel to 'Underworld' Discovered Beneath Mexican Pyramid
Elon Musk Claims to Have "Verbal Approval" to Build New York to Washington, D.C. Hyperloop
NY-Philly-Baltimore-DC Hyperloop: Not Vaporware?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Grishnakh on Tuesday October 31 2017, @04:01AM (7 children)
He got himself a TBM (tunnel boring machine). Those things have been used in many other projects, like the new tunnel under Seattle, the Chunnel, some new tunnels in NYC, etc. How does he plan to dig tunnels cheaper with his TBM than other companies have already done with their TBMs?
Also, as I understand it, TBMs aren't one-size-fits-all machines; they have to be outfitted specifically for the type of soil they'll be digging in, which varies a lot from place to place.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by khallow on Tuesday October 31 2017, @05:56AM (2 children)
Well, that depends on how cheaply those other companies were able to operate their machines. Cheap enough and he won't have to do better. Let us note that all the examples you mention are government contracts which are notorious for price not correlating well to underlying cost. Sure, if it takes several hundred million dollars to bore and construct the tunnel, it's not going to work. I doubt the actual costs are anywhere near that level, once you get away from the government teat.
Alternately, perhaps Musk and company are expecting to milk said government teat, in which case cost or even completion of the project just isn't that important. Just make sure the checks are signed.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 31 2017, @09:57AM
Or they are going for a backend deal where they get a piece of the fees charged for every vehicle/shipment that goes through these tunnels?
(Score: 2) by dublet on Tuesday October 31 2017, @06:01PM
I attended a talk for HyperLoop and the CEO mentioned that they will lower costs by effectively only digging one tunnel that can house two HyperLoop tubes. So it's not so much about digging tunnels cheaper but instead digging fewer and utilising them to a higher extent.
"If anyone needs me, I'm in the angry dome. [dublet.org]"
(Score: 3, Touché) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday October 31 2017, @05:58PM (3 children)
Those things have been used in many other projects, like the new tunnel under Seattle,
Well, that's a good place to start. I could hire a thousand MBAs to do it with spoons and still come in cheaper than the Seattle tunnel!
(Score: 3, Funny) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday October 31 2017, @07:22PM (2 children)
That's a brilliant idea. Genius. Let's bring back corvee labor---for MBAs. Give them spoons, and order them to dig out hyperloop tunnels. It would be the best use for MBAs the world has ever seen. We could put all the MBAs at one end, all the lawyers, lobbyists, politicians, and Wall Street bankers at the other end, and tell each group whoever gets to their mark first will feed, and the others will be fed. (We won't tell the winners until afterward they've been fed the losers)
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday October 31 2017, @08:58PM (1 child)
Yes, but if we're feeding our Soylent to our Soylent do we need to worry about prion diseases?
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday October 31 2017, @11:54PM
No, but we might need to worry about pr0n diseases.
Washington DC delenda est.