Elon Musk says underground "sled" system could be ready within months
HAWTHORNE, Calif. - Always wanted to be a guinea pig? Here's your chance.
Billionaire Elon Musk says that members of the public will be able to test a transportation system for scooting commuters underground on electric sleds. The technology mogul, whose companies include Tesla and SpaceX, said on Thursday over Twitter that he's almost finished building a tunnel under a Los Angeles suburb that will be used to test the system.
Pending regulatory approval, the system will offer free rides "in a few months," he said in a post on Instagram that featured a video of the tunnel. Another Musk venture, The Boring Company, is building the tunnel.
First Boring Company tunnel under LA almost done! Pending final regulatory approvals, we will be offering free rides to the public in a few months. Super huge thanks to everyone that helped with this project. Strong support from public, elected officials & regulators is critical to success. As mentioned in prior posts, once fully operational (demo system rides will be free), the system will always give priority to pods for pedestrians & cyclists for less than the cost of a bus ticket.
A post shared by Elon Musk (@elonmusk) on
Last year, the Hawthorne City Council approved a roughly two-mile test tunnel from Musk's SpaceX rocket plant to a point east of Los Angeles International Airport. Boring Company is seeking approval to tunnel into western Los Angeles.
Musk describes a system, which The Boring Company calls "Loop," where vehicles would descend via elevators into tunnels and move on electrically powered sleds.
"Loop is a high-speed underground public transportation system in which passengers are transported on autonomous electric skates traveling at 125-150 miles per hour," the company says on its website. "Electric skates will carry between eight and 16 passengers (mass transit), or a single passenger vehicle."
His latest tweet says an operational system would give priority to pods for pedestrians and cyclists.
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