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Elon Musk Unveils Boring Co's First Tunnel

latimes.com

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Re: Elon Musk Unveils Boring Co's First Tunnel

#111

Post by Isinlor »

carlivar wrote: post #22
snowwindwaves wrote: post #11

The tone of the article is surprisingly hostile. Maybe I'm just used to Canadian media.

Some journalists have become openly cynical about Musk, probably now that so many promises have failed to materialize.

He may have delays, but what have he failed to deliver? Everything is either work in progress or delivered.

- internet payment platform, check

- first privately founded company to do orbital launch, check

- reusable cheap rockets, check

- biggest rocket available + it's reusable, check

- Dragon spacecraft, check

- crew spacecraft, check (still needs testing, starting early next year)

- Model S, check

- Model X, check

- Model 3, check (work in progress on 35 000$ version)

- Boring Tunnel, check (work in progress on scaling up)

- Starlink, check (test satellites are flying over your head, work in progress on full deploy)

- Big Falcon Rocket, work in progress

Re: Elon Musk Unveils Boring Co's First Tunnel

#112

Post by SmellyGeekBoy »

npunt wrote: post #77
twblalock wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would I take a van if I could take my own luxury car? If I was going to take a van I might as well take the subway. It would probably be more comfortable and roomy.

If there’s no subway nearby, how would you do that? Also not everyone can afford a luxury car. Just imagine lyft, lyft line, and a bigger lyft line. They can all coexist.

> If there’s no subway nearby, how would you do that?

So here's an idea - how about they run subway trains in these tunnels instead like they do in the rest of the world?

Re: Elon Musk Unveils Boring Co's First Tunnel

#113

Post by maxxxxx »

konschubert wrote: post #105
npunt wrote: 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.

People go 250 kmh on German highways regularly (unfortunately). It doesn't seem to be unpractical.

Not impractical but these tires are very expensive.

Re: Elon Musk Unveils Boring Co's First Tunnel

#114

Post by semi-extrinsic »

semi-extrinsic wrote: post #25
npunt wrote: 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?

My mistake, I had to search for the max Autosteer speed and Google gave me an old article. Seems they have been upgrading steadily from 45 mph in January 2017 to (currently) 90 mph?

But then my original question remains: why do they need guide wheels for this, when they can do 90 mph without them on normal roads?

Re: Elon Musk Unveils Boring Co's First Tunnel

#115

Post by em-bee »

Rebelgecko wrote: post #95
em-bee wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

and if it doesn't work out, it can always be converted to rail

Is that for sure? It looks like it'd be a tight fit for a train.

right, it might not work for a regular sized train, but if it can fit a car, it can fit rails and a custom designed rail carriage with the same advantages of a regular train.

it might not even need regular rails. there are trains that work with rubber wheels (paris subway had that for decades already), so it would really just be fancy busses with guide-rails.

EDIT: pretty much the same idea is mentioned by several others in this discussion, so it seems not to be to far fetched.

of course, given the popularity of public transportation in LA, it makes sense that they are going for the ability for people to use one vehicle from their home all the way to their destination. i just hope they focus on actually getting the most use out of the tunnels, even if their initial vision doesn't work out the way they intend.

Re: Elon Musk Unveils Boring Co's First Tunnel

#116

Post by youngtaff »

haxton wrote: post #44
npunt wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Generally speaking tunnels are much safer than outside due to the lack of falling debris. And the fire issue is solved my any half decent sprinkler / ventilation system.

Isn't water a no-go if it's a lithium battery fire?

Re: Elon Musk Unveils Boring Co's First Tunnel

#117

Post by ztjio »

konschubert wrote: post #103

If they manage to reduce the cost of tunnel boring then that's super exciting and I congratulate them. But all this discussion of what to put in the tunnel seems very silly to me. Are they just re-discovering subways? Do they know that there are subways in the world (e.g. Paris) that run out rubber tires?

During the presentation, Musk specifically compared to subways and how their vision is an improvement. I didn't and won't read the article, since I watched the presentation, but, if it doesn't even mention that fact, this article is a waste of time. The presentation was quite informative of their ideas and visions for using the tunnels and gave clear explanations of how their approach is superior to existing ones.

Re: Elon Musk Unveils Boring Co's First Tunnel

#118

Post by nickik »

Isinlor wrote: post #111
carlivar wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some journalists have become openly cynical about Musk, probably now that so many promises have failed to materialize.

He may have delays, but what have he failed to deliver? Everything is either work in progress or delivered. - internet payment platform, check - first privately founded company to do orbital launch, check - reusable cheap rockets, check - biggest rocket available + it's reusable, check - Dragon spacecraft, check - crew spacecraft, check (still needs testing, starting early next year) - Model S, check - Model X, check…

Some people have a hard time keeping relative and absolutes apart. There are lots of people, even on this site who often claim that he is 'not even an engineer'.

People emotions simply get the better of them in situation that are so public, every little detail gets blown out of proportion in either direction.

The plain fact that he controls and builds multiple US based billion dollar companies seems to get lots AT THE VERY MOMENT when US based manufacturing has been on of the prime political debates is astonishing for me as an outsider.

Re: Elon Musk Unveils Boring Co's First Tunnel

#119

Post by Skye »

Rebelgecko wrote: post #95
em-bee wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

and if it doesn't work out, it can always be converted to rail

Is that for sure? It looks like it'd be a tight fit for a train.

There are trains that run in narrow tunnels in London (12 feet wide I think?). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Why_London_Undergrou...

Re: Elon Musk Unveils Boring Co's First Tunnel

#120

Post by agildehaus »

warent wrote: post #4

> "But Musk told reporters that Boring officials have abandoned the concept of the skate, saying it was “far more complex” than his new plan: guide wheels that can be attached to the front tires of autonomous, electric cars, steadying the vehicles as they move forward through tunnels." So basically this only works with Tesla vehicles at the moment. I'm wondering how that's going to expand in the future--if at all. Do…

Doesn't the removal of the skate also put the vehicle's speed back in the hands of the driver? So now one slow guy will slow down everyone in that tunnel?

Also, the skate was supposed to provide the automation. How does autonomously navigate the tunnel network?

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