The Boring Company
The Boring Company (TBC) is an American infrastructure, tunnel construction services, and equipment company founded by Elon Musk. TBC was founded as a subsidiary of SpaceX in 2017, and was spun off as a separate corporation in 2018. TBC has completed one tunneling project that is open to the public, as well as multiple test tunnels.
Not to be confused with The Boeing Company.Company type
January 11, 2017
Bastrop, Texas, U.S.[1]
Steve Davis (CEO and President)[2]
Elon Musk
<200[3] (April 2022)
In 2018, TBC completed one tunnel for testing in Los Angeles County, California. In 2021, TBC completed the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) Loop, which is a three-station transportation system consisting of 1.7 miles (2.7 km) of tunnels. As of July 2023, a segment to Resorts World is also open, and tunnels to Encore and Westgate resorts are being finalized. The system is planned to expand to a total of 68 miles (109 km) of tunnels in Las Vegas.
Many other TBC projects in cities across the United States have been announced, but subsequently were canceled or became inactive due to a lack of activity from the company.[4]
LVCC Loop System
Winchester, Nevada
United States
Dedicated taxi route
1
5
2021
1.7 mi (2.7 km)
Projects under discussion[edit]
Inquiries and discussions have been held with Boring Company for various projects.
In February 2021, Miami mayor Francis Suarez revealed that Musk had proposed to dig a two-mile tunnel under the Miami River for $30 million, within a six-month timescale, compared with $1 billion over four years estimated by the local transit authority. Much of the savings would be achieved by simplifying ventilation systems and allowing only electric vehicles.[52]
In July 2021, Fort Lauderdale accepted a proposal from the Boring Company for a tunnel between downtown and the beach, to be dubbed the "Las Olas Loop".[53] As of August 2021, the city was beginning final negotiations with TBC.[54] Mayor Dean Trantalis estimated the total cost of the 5-mile (8.0 km) round-trip tunnel would be between $90 and $100 million, including stations.[55] As of December 2022, feasibility studies were expected to be completed by TBC by March 2023.[56] Enthusiasm for the project waned in early 2023 and it is unclear whether it will move forward. [57][58]
In August 2021, a preliminary concept discussion was held with officials of Cameron County on the potential construction of a tunnel from South Padre Island to Boca Chica Beach in South Texas. If built, the tunnel would be required to pass beneath the Brownsville Ship Channel.[59] It would allow SpaceX's Boca Chica facility to remain accessible if Highway 4, its sole access road, is closed.[60]
Promotional merchandise[edit]
In 2018, the company began offering 20,000 "flamethrowers" for preordering.[80] The "flamethrower" was a blow torch shaped to look like a gun and is legal in all U.S. states except Maryland.[81] All 20,000 "flamethrowers" were sold in just a few days.[82] After customs officials said that they would not allow imports of any items called "flamethrowers", Musk announced that he would rename them to "Not-A-Flamethrower" since the devices were in fact akin to roofing torches. Musk announced separate sales of a fire extinguisher, which he described as "overpriced... but this one comes with a cool sticker".[83]
Not-a-Boring Competition student contests[edit]
In 2020, TBC released rules for a student tunnel-boring competition. The first competition was held in Las Vegas in September 2021.[84] Officially named the Not-a-Boring Competition, the challenge was to "quickly and accurately drill a tunnel that was 30 m (98 ft)-long and 30 cm (0.98 ft)-wide."[84] SpaceX had earlier sponsored a Hyperloop pod competition in 2016–2019 for student teams, and had considered building a longer vacuum tube for a potential competition in 2020.[85]
Applications were received from 400 potential participants. A technical design review left 12 teams that were invited to Las Vegas to demonstrate their engineering solution in a September 2021 competition. The winning team was TUM Boring from Technical University of Munich who managed to excavate a 22 m (72 ft) bore while meeting the requisite safety requirements. TUM Boring used a conventional pipe jacking method to build the tunnel, but employed a novel revolving pipe storage design to minimize downtime between pipe segments.[84]
A second competition was held in April 2023. New contest criteria required a 30 m (98 ft)-long 500 mm (20 in)-diameter, this time with a turn radius. Five teams from four countries — the United States, Germany, United Kingdom, and Switzerland — made the finals and journeyed to Texas to compete. TUM Boring again won with a design that reached a maximum velocity of 7 mm/s (0.28 in/s).[1] Swissloop Tunneling finished second overall and won the innovation award.[86]
Criticism[edit]
Civil engineering experts and tunneling industry veterans questioned whether TBC could render tunnels faster and cheaper than competitors. Tunnelling Journal dismissed the company as a "vanity project".[87]
Musk's planned tunnels were criticized for lacking such safety features as emergency exit corridors, ventilation systems, or fire suppression. In addition, the single lane tunnels left it impossible for vehicles to pass one another in the event of collision, mechanical failure, or other traffic obstruction, and instead would shut the entire tunnel section down.[88][89] The low capacity of TBC tunnels make them inefficient when compared to existing public transit solutions, with only a fraction of the capacity of a conventional rapid-transit subway.[90][91][92][93]
James Moore, director of transportation engineering at the University of Southern California, said that "there are cheaper ways to provide better transportation for large numbers of people", such as managing traffic with tolls.[93] Public transit consultant Jarrett Walker called TBC "wildly hyped", and criticized how the company "dazzled city governments and investors with visions of an efficient subway where you never have to get out of your car, [but turned] out to be a paved road tunnel."[92][94]
