Musk's Boring Company finishes excavation on Las Vegas people-mover tunnel

[Cal Jeffrey]

Bottom line: Consumer Electronics Show visitors may not have to wear themselves out walking to and from exhibitions starting next year. Elon Musk's Las Vegas Convention Center Loop project is on schedule with the twin tunnels having already been dug. The transport system should be completed by the beginning of next year.

The Boring Company has completed the excavation of the second of two tunnels under the streets of Las Vegas, reports the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The first tube was finished back in February. The Las Vegas Convention and Vistors Authority (LVCVA) announced the project in March of last year. It will be called the "Convention Center Loop."

The multimillion-dollar contract looks to put high-speed transportation tunnels under the ground of the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) to move patrons across the venue rather than walking the entire length of the complex multiple times during conventions like CES.

The first set of tunnels will run the length of the LVCC. Future expansions have the system going from the McCarran International Airport, down the Las Vegas Strip, and connecting with the phase-one Convention Center Loop. Passenger stations along the Strip will also join many of the major hotels and casinos to the Loop.

The LVCVA expects to ferry up to 4,000 people per hour across the LVCC venue using Tesla autonomous vehicles. Walking the length of the facility takes about 15 minutes, but using the Loop will only take about two minutes. The total cost of the project is expected to run between $35 million to $55 million.

With the initial excavation completed, the project will begin construction on three passenger depots — two on either end of the tunnels and one at the midpoint. The Convention Center Loop should be up and running by January 2021, just in time for CES 2021.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/85230-musk-boring-company-finishes-excavation-las-vegas-people.html

 

[VitalyT]

This reminds of the "Ocean's Thirteen" movie

Which casino are they going to rob?

 

[Tom Yum]

I still don't understand how this is better than a subway, or why you need autonomous cars in a single lane tunnel.

 

[Lounds]

An underground railway makes more sense in Vegas.

 

[3volv3d]

I was thinking recently how surely trains / mono rail etc would be a far better mode of transport. And then corona comes along.

Cars should be abolished. But we need an individual mode or better PPE should we need to travel together.

We need to lose half the populous of the planet to make social distancing a thing of the past.

But we don't need autonomous cars. They just see a window for a market, that although in the long run is pointless, its a false economy that can be tapped, because people will think they are helping the planet while all along they are actually making it worse and feeding some ***** his cash cow.

 

[Karlos95]

I still don't understand how this is better than a subway, or why you need autonomous cars in a single lane tunnel.

He explains it somewhere, subway is only good for long distances and you stop near where you need to be. This is a far better option.
Autonomous because the tunnel they are digging (smaller than normal car tunnels) has to be a certain diameter for people to be able to drive in it. Make all the cars go in it autonomous and those restrictions are no longer there, meaning more tunnels using less space than a normal car tunnel.

 

[Karlos95]

I was thinking recently how surely trains / mono rail etc would be a far better mode of transport. And then corona comes along.

Cars should be abolished. But we need an individual mode or better PPE should we need to travel together.

We need to lose half the populous of the planet to make social distancing a thing of the past.

But we don't need autonomous cars. They just see a window for a market, that although in the long run is pointless, its a false economy that can be tapped, because people will think they are helping the planet while all along they are actually making it worse and feeding some ***** his cash cow.

No way, more electric cars but no one owns them, is far better (basically a pool of cars for multiple people).

Actually I think we do.. too many nits on the road that can't drive and take for ever to react, autonomous will fix that. Actually, they are helping the environment, a tesla compared to carbon combustion engine vehicle will produce no carbon emissions after 7 years of driving it, fact. So yes, a CCE will be better for the environment for those 7 years after (which most cars continue to drive) it produces way more emissions. Yes you can argue the fact that the batteries need to be replaced every 10 - 15 years but they are recycled for other electrical items so all in all, better for the environment.

Wouldn't you want to make money off making the world a better place? I would. Especially when the fossil fuel industry has made the world a worse place and made trillions off that.

 

[Karlos95]

I hope Elon comes to Australia with a Gigafactory (cheaper teslas) and tunnels linking major cities. Our gov are terrible planners so to get around the nation it is a maximum of 2 lanes and some 1 lane highways, way too much traffic.

 

[GeforcerFX]

I was thinking recently how surely trains / mono rail etc would be a far better mode of transport. And then corona comes along.

Cars should be abolished. But we need an individual mode or better PPE should we need to travel together.

We need to lose half the populous of the planet to make social distancing a thing of the past.

But we don't need autonomous cars. They just see a window for a market, that although in the long run is pointless, its a false economy that can be tapped, because people will think they are helping the planet while all along they are actually making it worse and feeding some ***** his cash cow.

No cars isn't possible in around 30-40% of the world. Urban areas (especially here in the USA) need more mass and better mass transit for sure(which to be fair is happening). But there are places where running county and city mass transit is not economically possible nor would those people allow it. Instead cars need to continuously improve on there efficiency (which they are) and there technology to continue to improve safety (which is where most of the autonomous tech is targeted right now).

I still don't understand how this is better than a subway, or why you need autonomous cars in a single lane tunnel.

No track maintenance, easier scaling compared to subways, and with autonomous cars you don't need to hire as many workers to man the vehicles, could help cut down on human error. I would hope there not just throwing model Y's down there and that tesla will take the tech from there cars and put them into a proper mass transit system (think more like a mini bus or airport shuttle).

 

[Adorerai]

I still don't understand how this is better than a subway, or why you need autonomous cars in a single lane tunnel.

You’ll probably get to your destination faster too. Unlike a train that makes a stop at every station, you’re vehicle won’t have to make stops along the way. The vehicles in front will just exit the tunnel instead of blocking it when they arrive at their destination. Loading and unloading won’t take place in the main tunnels.

 

[3volv3d]

No way, more electric cars but no one owns them, is far better (basically a pool of cars for multiple people).

Actually I think we do.. too many nits on the road that can't drive and take for ever to react, autonomous will fix that. Actually, they are helping the environment, a tesla compared to carbon combustion engine vehicle will produce no carbon emissions after 7 years of driving it, fact. So yes, a CCE will be better for the environment for those 7 years after (which most cars continue to drive) it produces way more emissions. Yes you can argue the fact that the batteries need to be replaced every 10 - 15 years but they are recycled for other electrical items so all in all, better for the environment.

Wouldn't you want to make money off making the world a better place? I would. Especially when the fossil fuel industry has made the world a worse place and made trillions off that.

Ok, but if the batteries require "rare earth materials", that need mining for, and that causes more harm than good...
Who arent owning the cars either? People don't want that. They want their fancy sports car. It is a status icon for people. Like handbag dogs.

I get what possibilties there could be, but all in all, people will be sold an individual item, because you could have 50000 autonamous vehicles in a city picking people up when needed, or you could sell 3 million at twice the price, and still charge people a fortune for the autonamous taxi.

 

[Hardware Geek]

Ok, but if the batteries require "rare earth materials", that need mining for, and that causes more harm than good...
Who arent owning the cars either? People don't want that. They want their fancy sports car. It is a status icon for people. Like handbag dogs.

I get what possibilties there could be, but all in all, people will be sold an individual item, because you could have 50000 autonamous vehicles in a city picking people up when needed, or you could sell 3 million at twice the price, and still charge people a fortune for the autonamous taxi.

Musk claims they have developed a battery that will last a million miles and massively reduces the need for rare earth elements and they are continuing to work on the technology and are trying to develop a battery that doesn't require rare earth elements.

 

[DaveBG]

I still don't understand how this is better than a subway, or why you need autonomous cars in a single lane tunnel.

This tunnel is cheaper and faster to build.
All cars will be autonomous in the future.

 

[Karlos95]

This tunnel is cheaper and faster to build.
All cars will be autonomous in the future.

Obviously not fully though. I-Robot for example

Autonomous where gov don't think we can handle the speed, manual driving where there is suburbia or residential.

 

[Karlos95]

Ok, but if the batteries require "rare earth materials", that need mining for, and that causes more harm than good...
Who arent owning the cars either? People don't want that. They want their fancy sports car. It is a status icon for people. Like handbag dogs.

I get what possibilties there could be, but all in all, people will be sold an individual item, because you could have 50000 autonamous vehicles in a city picking people up when needed, or you could sell 3 million at twice the price, and still charge people a fortune for the autonamous taxi.

Everything we build requires rare earth minerals. I mean, we continue to drill and drill and drill for oil. I would rather dig up some Lithium for many years in a car than to drill heaps of oil that would barely do a week over so many cars.

It is all a stepping stone to a better earth. Sun powered will be good in the short term and I am sure as tech gets better we will come up with something better. But fossil fuels need to go.

I will definitely chuck a solar roof and tesla wall on my house when I buy one and will get some sort of electric vehicle. Obviously the only thing holding me back right now is money.

But you can have both and still use less emission and less vehicles. The rich have their individual cars and the poor - middle class use the pool cars. But even if everyone get their own, still less emissions, it is all about air quality.

I hear hydro fusion might be a thing to start powering everything. Don't know how true it is or if the tech is even there yet.

 

[neeyik]

Wandering off topic, now. Please stick to the immediate news topic and use the General Discussion board to debate matters concerning electric vehicles and manufacturing resources.

 

[3volv3d]

Deleted

 

[Karlos95]

Wandering off topic, now. Please stick to the immediate news topic and use the General Discussion board to debate matters concerning electric vehicles and manufacturing resources.

How is it off topic? These tunnels use strictly EVs. And people didn't know why.

The amount of comment deleting by mods on this website is unreal. Youtube level censorship. Also violates freedom of speech.

 

[neeyik]

How is it off topic? These tunnels use strictly EVs. And people didn't know why.

It was wandering off topic, not at the point of actually being off topic.

The amount of comment deleting by mods on this website is unreal. Youtube level censorship. Also violates freedom of speech.

Nothing has been deleted in this thread and the post was nothing more than a polite reminder to keep things focused. Everyone is more than welcome to discuss electric vehicles, the resources required, the extraction of them, etc and it's a worthy conversation, but that's what the General Discussion board is for. Yes, it relates to the news topic, but it's better if the list of comments doesn't stray too far away from the primary point - for example, raising questions about how the tunnel actually benefits anyone or suggesting that the project seems quite cheap for its size, would be perfectly valid and on topic.[/quote][/QUOTE]

 

[Karlos95]

It was wandering off topic, not at the point of actually being off topic.


Nothing has been deleted in this thread and the post was nothing more than a polite reminder to keep things focused. Everyone is more than welcome to discuss electric vehicles, the resources required, the extraction of them, etc and it's a worthy conversation, but that's what the General Discussion board is for. Yes, it relates to the news topic, but it's better if the list of comments doesn't stray too far away from the primary point - for example, raising questions about how the tunnel actually benefits anyone or suggesting that the project seems quite cheap for its size, would be perfectly valid and on topic.

[/QUOTE]
[/QUOTE]

Ok Thank you for the clarification.

Other threads, however, get plenty of comments deleted and it is unethical (unless there was clear sign of threat/illegal remark) as they are in their right to stay on the thread as an idea or opinion.

This isn't directed at you as you seem quite reasonable as you actually explained your reasoning. A few mods haven't been bothered to do that.

I'll leave it at that and get back on topic.

Boring tunnels, am I right?

 

[DaveBG]

Obviously not fully though. I-Robot for example

Autonomous where gov don't think we can handle the speed, manual driving where there is suburbia or residential.

I am thinking that in the future people will have manual cars for fun but for work and for every day people moving we will use autonomous cars exclusively. To the point that in most places it could be illegal to drive manual.
If you are in a hurry there will probably be some kind of "fast mode" which you will have certain amounts of times to use per week and in you exaust them you cannot use more or some other limitaiton to make sure not everyone commands their car to move fast all the time.