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Elon Musk Unveils Boring Co's First Tunnel

latimes.com

31–40 of 237 posts

Re: Elon Musk Unveils Boring Co's First Tunnel

#31
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I imagine it’ll also probably be hell on tires. You’d need W- or Z-rated tires to do that and those are $$. Perhaps smooth concrete will mean lower rolling friction along with lack of sudden maneouvers. Still, going that fast is expensive in all sorts of ways.

And it's best not to think about what happens if a car stops for any reason, or worse, catches fire. I do not believe any escape hatches were part of the demo and cost calculations.

Tunnels looked wide enough to get out and walk thru. They’ll need ventilation and will probably get maint / esc hatches for regs. Dunno about ADA. Didn’t seem like a detail worth hashing out in a debut tho.

Re: Elon Musk Unveils Boring Co's First Tunnel

#32
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s for added safety factor at high speeds (150mph).

Huh, TIL Tesla Autopilot only works at speeds below 50 mph. I thought it was mainly for highway driving, but highways are more like 60-100 mph. I assumed it worked at highway speeds. What gives?

What? Where did you read this? I have a Model 3 and Autopilot works at regular highway speeds (65+ mph). I use it for highway driving all the time.

Re: Elon Musk Unveils Boring Co's First Tunnel

#34
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s for added safety factor at high speeds (150mph).

Huh, TIL Tesla Autopilot only works at speeds below 50 mph. I thought it was mainly for highway driving, but highways are more like 60-100 mph. I assumed it worked at highway speeds. What gives?

Considering the elevator bottleneck at the end I don't think theoretical speeds are that important anyway.

Re: Elon Musk Unveils Boring Co's First Tunnel

#37
post #33

The elevators in and elevators out are the bottleneck. Then inside it looks like a safety and escape hazard nightmare. What happens when someone gets a flat tire?

Seems like it needs to be centrally controlled automation so they’d be able to adjust fleet speed in relevant area for any issues that arose.

Flat tire seems easy, probably a limp home mode to nearest exit + slow down nearby fleet. There should be many exits and relatively close to each other since they’re so low cost.

I’m more concerned about fire & earthquake.

Re: Elon Musk Unveils Boring Co's First Tunnel

#38

What a gong show and waste of everyone's time. https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1075230308545454080 How can this man honestly think this sort of system could be higher capacity than a subway?

I think the term you're looking for is "reality distortion field".

Re: Elon Musk Unveils Boring Co's First Tunnel

#39
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And it's best not to think about what happens if a car stops for any reason, or worse, catches fire. I do not believe any escape hatches were part of the demo and cost calculations.

Tunnels looked wide enough to get out and walk thru. They’ll need ventilation and will probably get maint / esc hatches for regs. Dunno about ADA. Didn’t seem like a detail worth hashing out in a debut tho.

Agreed not necessary in the demo, but should acknowledge this in the cost information.

Re: Elon Musk Unveils Boring Co's First Tunnel

#40
post #17

Are they really boring tunnels cheaper and faster than traditional construction companies though? Seems like that's the real goal with the company.

Yes, mentioned in live stream was that other co’s only spend 1/5 the time actually boring and the rest on logistics of putting up retaining walls and the like. Part of Boring Co innovation is to automate that and keep the borer working all the time. Also they 3x’d the energy output of the boring machine vs competitors. Should add up.

That's all still speculation, isn't it? IIRC this tunnel was built with a boring machine from a competitor.
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