The Boring Company [video] • Hacker News Board

Re: The Boring Company [video]

#71

Post by jitix » Fri, Apr 28, 2017, 9:45 PM UTC

goodcanadian wrote: post #42

OrwellianChild wrote: post #27

Don't fully get the benefit of moving cars on rails vs. moving cars on wheels... Higher fixed costs to power the rail vs. just letting cars auto-drive with internal propulsion. What am I missing?

Or how about moving trains on rails? I am of two minds about self driving cars. From a technology point of view, I think its great, but I don't really see what problem they solve that would not be better solved by ubiquitous public transportation (trains, mostly). Now, Musk wants to carry cars on sleds through tunnels under LA? Why not just build some damn trains? EDIT: the real news is that he wants to improve borin…

It's about the last mile connectivity. People don't want to walk/uber from home to the train station and from the train station to work. Having a car on rails solves this problem.

Re: The Boring Company [video]

#72

Post by phamilton » Fri, Apr 28, 2017, 9:45 PM UTC

loufe wrote: post #52

The costs of tunneling are like FAR more expensive than most think. Breaking, excavating, and supporting rock is slow, time and cost heavy, and precarious work. While this is an interesting concept, unless there are serious advances in rock boring techniques (personal opinion: there are none coming) this will never approach fruition. I would suggest anyone interested in further research look into the "Big Dig" of Bos…

That's the entire point of The Boring Company. It's way more expensive than anyone expects. That's the problem they are trying to solve. The entire goal is "serious advances in rock boring techniques".

That may be a lofty goal, but at least the message I got is that it is the one they want to reach.

Re: The Boring Company [video]

#73

Post by lucb1e » Fri, Apr 28, 2017, 9:46 PM UTC

shouldbworking wrote: post #40

Did anyone else notice that cars being lowered leaves a giant fucking hole in the middle of the street?! This is a marketing fluff video untouched by engineers

So you raise a fence around it (stored on the sides, underground of course), or slide a roof in (once again, stored below the surface) to prevent anyone from going in even if they wanted to. This doesn't sound like a biggie to me.

Re: The Boring Company [video]

#74

Post by astrodust » Fri, Apr 28, 2017, 9:46 PM UTC

shouldbworking wrote: post #40

Did anyone else notice that cars being lowered leaves a giant fucking hole in the middle of the street?! This is a marketing fluff video untouched by engineers

If this is ever built someone will absolutely ghost-ride the whip in the tunnel.

And die.

And lawsuits.

Re: The Boring Company [video]

#75

Post by burkaman » Fri, Apr 28, 2017, 9:46 PM UTC

shouldbworking wrote: post #40

Did anyone else notice that cars being lowered leaves a giant fucking hole in the middle of the street?! This is a marketing fluff video untouched by engineers

This is obviously just a marketing video, but that isn't a very hard problem to solve. The bigger issue is building an enormous underground highway network under an existing city.

Re: The Boring Company [video]

#76

Post by joshmanders » Fri, Apr 28, 2017, 9:46 PM UTC

anonymous_iam wrote: post #39

Is it just a coincidence that Musk's main competitor in the space business is called "The Boeing Company"? I don't think so.

The Boring Company isn't a jab at Boeing, it's a generic name for a company that bores holes in the ground... Ya know.. Tunnels?

Re: The Boring Company [video]

#77

Post by mrb » Fri, Apr 28, 2017, 9:47 PM UTC

loufe wrote: post #52

The costs of tunneling are like FAR more expensive than most think. Breaking, excavating, and supporting rock is slow, time and cost heavy, and precarious work. While this is an interesting concept, unless there are serious advances in rock boring techniques (personal opinion: there are none coming) this will never approach fruition. I would suggest anyone interested in further research look into the "Big Dig" of Bos…

"unless there are serious advances" ...which is precisely what Musk is researching (bottleneck of boring machines): “We’re trying to dramatically increase the tunneling speed,” Musk says. “We want to know what it would take to get to a mile a week? Could it be possible?” See https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-02-16/elon-musk...

Re: The Boring Company [video]

#78

Post by andrewprock » Fri, Apr 28, 2017, 9:47 PM UTC

loufe wrote: post #52

The costs of tunneling are like FAR more expensive than most think. Breaking, excavating, and supporting rock is slow, time and cost heavy, and precarious work. While this is an interesting concept, unless there are serious advances in rock boring techniques (personal opinion: there are none coming) this will never approach fruition. I would suggest anyone interested in further research look into the "Big Dig" of Bos…

Maybe one day we could connect the individual pods, and even gasp route these "coupled cars" on rails above ground.

I wonder if anyone has tried that yet?

Re: The Boring Company [video]

#79

Post by mynameisvlad » Fri, Apr 28, 2017, 9:47 PM UTC

shouldbworking wrote: post #40

Did anyone else notice that cars being lowered leaves a giant fucking hole in the middle of the street?! This is a marketing fluff video untouched by engineers

I mean, you can easily cover up the hole with a sliding door pretty quickly after dropping, or, as someone else mentioned, raise fences during the process.

This is far from the hardest problem to solve in the video.

Re: The Boring Company [video]

#80

Post by astrodust » Fri, Apr 28, 2017, 9:48 PM UTC

jitix wrote: post #58

rb808 wrote: post #51

On the downside, LA traffic sucks but at least you get the sun shining in. Spending your whole commute in tunnels seems a depressing way to live, even if its shorter.

That's your opinion. Getting stuck in a traffic jam on a hot sunny day is very displeasing to me. I'd rather move fast through a tunnel. Edit: fixed typo

So what you're saying is you'd rather get stuck in line waiting for tunnel access instead of actually driving to where you're going?

Based on that video it looks like the cycle time on those platforms is pretty limited. There's a fixed number of them circulating at any time. You'll be stuck waiting for one to pop up even if you're second in line.

If you're tenth? Get out a magazine.