Elon Musk's Boring Company to offer 150mph 'Loop ride' in Los Angeles for $1

Elon Musk's Boring Company to offer 150mph 'Loop ride' in Los Angeles for $1
Photo: Boring Company

Imagine a ride with absolutely no traffic, no carbon emission, no rush inside the vehicle, and cheaper than a bus ticket fare. It will certainly be difficult to imagine this for those living in this part of world, but it could soon be a reality in the US. Boring Company, which is founded by SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, has partnered with the Los Angeles Metro to construct a 'Loop Tunnel', a high-speed underground public transportation system which promises to be as fast, clean, safe, and affordable.

 

As part of the proposal, Boring Company would build a 17.5 miles (around 28km) tunnel between DTLA (Downtown Los Angeles) and the Los Angeles International Airport (also called LAX). Despite Boring Company's earlier claim that building a Loop Tunnel costs around $1 billion per mile, the company has said it will charge only $1 for the 17.5 miles ride from DTLA to LAX.

So how will the Loop tunnel work? In a Loop tunnel, passengers would be transported on autonomous electric skates, which would travel at 125-150 miles per hour (around 250 km per hour), and carry up to 16 passengers.

A post shared by Elon Musk (@elonmusk) on

 

Elon Musk, during a public session on the project on Thursday, said: "There's quite a lot of education that needs to be done with respect to regard to what's possible with personalised mass transit effectively. There are some things that are quite exceptionally different in this than other modes of transportation. And we think we can address these chronic traffic issues in the major cities of the world."

He also said other new modes of transportations like flying taxis (Uber's Elevate project) were too risky, and could lead to weather and noise issues, thereby increasing anxiety levels of those living below. However, the entrepreneur said his company didn't suggest this to the exclusion of other approaches towards inventing better ways of transportations. Apart from LA, the company is also planning to carry out similar projects in other areas of the UA, including Hawthorne (California), East Coast and Chicago.