Elon Musk’s Boring Company to open 155 mph test tunnel under LA on December 10

Elon Musk says the first test tunnel dug by The Boring Company will be opened during an event on 10 December, and free rides will be offered to the public the following day.

Headed by Musk, The Boring Company aims to reduce traffic on city roads by providing high-speed electric transport through underground tunnels.

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The basic concept is similar to an underground train system, but Musk claims his vehicles will travel up to 150 mph, much faster than any other subterranean train service.

In a series of tweets posted this morning (October 22), Musk said, "The first tunnel is almost done. It opens on Dec 10. There will be an Opening event that night and free rides for the public the next day."

Answering questions from some of his followers, Musk added that the top speed will be 155 mph (250 km/h), located under Hawthorne, Los Angeles. When asked if the December 10 date is "real time or Elon time" - a nod towards the entrepreneur's habit of missing his own deadlines - Musk said: "I think real".

The test tunnel starts at a parking lot at SpaceX, Musk's rocket manufacturing company next door to LAX airport, then runs west beneath 120th Street for two miles.

The Boring Company was recently granted permission from Hawthorne City Council to build a garage-sized elevator at a property at the end of the test tunnel. This would allow vehicles to be lowered into the tunnel. Musk tweeted in September, "The Boring Company will transport your car all the way into your garage."

A diagram produced by The Boring Company shows how a car could be lowered from inside the street-level garage to a tributary, leading to the main tunnel, which heads to the SpaceX parking lot.

Alternatively, the electric 'skate' can be designed to accommodate between eight and 16 passengers. The computer-generated video below shows both of these skate configurations.

Musk says the entire system—which could one day extend to include numerous tunnels dug at different depths, each with a number of stations across the city—is known as a Loop. This differs from Musk's other transportation plan, the hyperloop, which sees electric trains drive through tunnels with much of their air removed, reducing drag and pushing the theoretical top speed to around 700 mph.

The Boring Company began digging its first Loop test tunnel at Space X in early 2017 to increase current tunnel-boring speeds by a factor of 10. It recently won the right to build a tunnel connecting Dodger Stadium with one of three LA neighborhoods; the tunnels will house a Loop transportation system, where passengers are transported in electric pods at 125 and 150 mph for $1 per ride.

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