Elon Musk reveals his Boring Company: Radical plan will see cars drive onto 130mph electric 'skates' before being shot through underground tunnels

Elon Musk has been teasing his tunneling project since he first tweeted the idea during a frustrated rant aimed at LA's heavy traffic in December. Now, the first details of the radical project have been revealed. In an appearance at the TED conference in Vancouver, Musk showed off a new video of electric 'skates' transporting cars in a narrow tunnel under a city before raising them back to street level in a space as small as two parking spaces. 'You should be able to go from say Westwood to LAX in 5-6 minutes,' the Tesla and SpaceX founder said. However, the project would require a massive building project to bore the tunnels and create the lift systems needed.


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At the TED conference in Vancouver, Musk showed off a new video of electric 'skates' transporting cars in a narrow tunnel under a city before raising them back to street level in a space as small as two parking spaces. Behind him a Tesla car can be seen on one of the 'skates.

Cars will use the system by simply driving into the designated parking areas, where they will be secured on an electric 'skate

The skate will be lowered into a network of tunnels Musk hopes to bore under major cities around the world. The 'skates' would work on electric tracks, reaching speeds of upto 130mph

Dozens of tunnels would allow commuters to simply bypass gridlocked traffic by travelling undergound

The image shows a large boring machine with the Boring Company logo on. However, it was later removed by the user, believed to be a SpaceX employee

Elon Musk has been teasing his tunneling project since he first tweeted his frustration at LA's heavy traffic in December, and new images reveal that he is sticking to his word as a large trench can be seen dug into a car park near his SpaceX headquarters in California

Nannie, the boring machine Musk is mulling buying: It was used to to dig a tunnel to prevent sewage from overflowing into the Anacostia River, and is now believed to be for sale

The 1,248 ton machine created a 23-foot diameter tunnel beginning at RFK Stadium that ends at the Poplar Point Pumping station in Southeast, approximately 100 feet underground. 

It goes underneath the Anacostia River, CSX railroad tracks, and the Green Line. 

The entire project - which traverses underground 13 miles from Bloomingdale to DC Water's Blue Plains Wastewater Treatment Plant in Southeast - is designed to supplement the existing sewer system by capturing excess storm water and curb area flooding.

After phase one, the Anacostia River Tunnel will serve as a storage tank for water until the storms pass - it can hold more than 38 million gallons of combined sewage, according to DC Water.

By the end of phase two, expected to occur in 2022 or 2023, storm water will be piped to Blue Plains for treatment before its release through the Northeast Boundary Tunnel. 

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