Elon Musk's amusingly titled "Boring Company" is drawing up plans for high-speed tunnels,
and then the video linked above I talked more about them.
But is anyone actually going to use them?
Well, here is a few reasons why his vision for the future
might just be a tunnel to nowhere:
Pedestrians can ride these tunnels in special electric skates
but if you want to ride in your car it needs to be electric
have autonomous driving
and have specially fitted retractable wheels.
I'm guessing that's a very small market even a few years from now
and how much will those retractable wheels cost to fit?
I'm going to have to ride the tunnel a lot to make it cheaper than paying to use the toll lanes every day.
The boring company wants to slash the price of digging.
As large tunnels cost more than small tunnels,
they've decided on an interior diameter of just 12''.
Compare that to 28'' for a one-way car tunnel.
There's quite a few people who aren't happy with confined spaces,
take C.B.S journalist Gayle Kings reaction when she went just 30 miles an hour through with the tunnel.
At first glance the tunnel is a bit daunting. [Gayle]
It's only 12'' in diameter, [Gayle]
so it's much more claustrophobic than most transportation tunnels. [Gayle]
Now 12'' seems cavernous compared to the less than 9 foot diameter of subway tunnels like the London Underground
but in these you aren't facing forwards looking at the tunnel rushing towards you.
In a car or an electric skate
that's just what's going to happen
and for some people,
that's going to be scary.
Subway trains don't generally go over 50 miles an hour
but Elon's electric skates and your car could travel at speeds up to 150mph.
The smaller the tunnel the faster these speeds seem
so 150mph will feel like it's much much faster.
Maybe people will get used to this
but I can imagine the first time I've rocketed through a tiny tunnel at high speed
it's going to freak me out.
Imagine I'm on a 35 mile Baltimore to Washington D.C tunnel,
I'm going to be in there for 15 minutes scared out of my wits.
Will some people try to stop their car and get out?
Cars in the tunnels will have to use autonomous driving.
We'll use radar to ensure they don't hit cars in front of them
but what if your car goes around a bend
then slows or has to stop?
Will my car's radar detect the car around the corner
and then be able to stop in time?
Maybe the boring company will ensure it works well with Teslas
but the boring companies tunnels will be open to any electric autonomous vehicle
and other manufacturers software
may not be as fault-tolerant as that of Tesla.
If my car stops or there's an emergency and I must evacuate,
I may have to walk up to a mile to get to a ventilation shaft which will allow me to exit the tunnel.
What if the car is coming down the tunnel at 150mph while I'm walking to safety?
At that speed can it look far enough up the tunnel to spot a small adult or a child?
Elon's tunnels are clearly an interesting idea
and of course there are things that they can do to negate some of the concerns
but there are some serious questions on how people will cope going at high speeds
in the confined tunnel
and how much people will pay for the privilege of arriving at their destination a little quicker.
The boring company is a technology company
and they're focused on solving technical problems first.
What I think they're missing here is the human element
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