Musk’s Tunnel Venture Switches Priority from Cars to People

Founder Elon Musk says the initial focus of his Boring Co.’s underground shuttle service will be on moving pedestrians and cyclists, not cars, around cities.

​​​​​​Boring still plans to launch a high-speed car carrier, which the company previously has promoted. But this will only happen after “all personalized mass transit needs are met," Musk asserted in a series of recent tweets. Out of "courtesy and fairness,” he says, people who can’t afford a vehicle “should go first.”

Musk envisions a network of thousands of above-ground stations, each about the size of a parking spot, where passengers would board shuttle pods. The pods would then be lowered under the ground and merge into tunnel loop routes where they could travel at speeds as great as 150 mph. Boring has released a new animated video that demonstrates the concept.

Musk was criticized when he first announced the car carrier plan last year for not addressing congestion. Skeptics also argue that bus rapid transit systems and above-ground micro-transit shuttles would be more practical.

Although he hasn’t announced any launch goals, Musk is moving forward with Boring’s ambitious plan. The company currently is testing prototype tunnels near Musk’s SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, Calif. And last month Boring received approval to start initial work on a proposed tunnel in Washington, D.C.