Elon Musk's next project may be a huge tunnel under Los Angeles

Dive Brief:

Elon Musk's Boring Company has revealed its plans for building a transportation tunnel under the Los Angeles-area Culver City, CA, according to Bloomberg.
The company, which made its presentation at a city council meeting Monday, said the project's goal is to "alleviate soul-destroying traffic." The tunnel would be privately funded and company officials said the cost for passengers would be on par with or less than other methods of public transportation.
Culver City officials said even though the Boring Company was not seeking public financing, the city would incur significant costs related to evaluating the project. Musk has said that in order to reduce traffic congestion, "roads must go 3D," either through the use of flying cars or tunnels.

Dive Insight:

In December, the Boring Company released a map that outlined its plan for a 6.5-mile transportation tunnel that would connect Culver City and Los Angeles. Also on the map were areas targeted for expansion if the Los Angeles-Culver City tunnel proves out.

At that time, the public got a first look at the "skate" system Musk says will ferry cars through the tunnel system. A car would pull into the skate above ground, then be lowered into the tunnel, where the system would move vehicles at speeds of up to 130 mph.

Musk and the Boring Company could have a similar concept in mind for an express transit system between downtown Chicago and O'Hare International Airport. The project specifications call for a company that can finance, operate and maintain the system, which must guarantee a travel time of no more than 20 minutes between the airport and the city. Musk discussed the project on Twitter and said the vacuum used by a Hyperloop system would not be necessary for such a short trip, though he offered no additional details on the Chicago project.

When Musk first threw down the Hyperloop design challenge in 2013, he said he would not be directly involved in the development of a system, though that seems to have changed. Musk announced in July that he received verbal approval from the federal government to build a Hyperloop between New York City and Washington, DC, and while he has received conditional approval from the Maryland Department of Transportation to dig a hyperloop tunnel from Baltimore to Washington, DC, those plans still have a few hurdles to clear.