The first Tesla vehicles are starting to go into the tunnels of the new Boring Company Loop in Las Vegas for testing.
It looks like they are getting closer to launching the new transportation system.
A Boring Company Loop system consists of tunnels in which autonomous electric vehicles travel at high speeds between stations to transport people within a city.
The first system is being deployed at the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCVA), which is paying $50 million for the system.
Earlier this year, the Boring Company completed the excavation of both tunnels for the project, and now they are working on the electric transportation system and stations for the launch in just a few months.
The Boring Company and the LVCVA confirmed that they will use Tesla vehicles inside the tunnels.
Today, the first Tesla vehicles were spotted entering the Boring Company tunnels — presumably for testing:
The two vehicles appear to be a Tesla Model X and a Tesla Model 3.
Tesla is likely going to have to develop custom autonomous software in order for the vehicle to navigate autonomously within the tunnels and the stations.
The vehicles will apparently travel at their top speed of 155 mph inside the tunnels and cut the travel time between the halls at the convention center, which is currently 15 minutes of walking, to just 1 minute.
The two tunnels are about 0.8-mile-long.
However, the goal is to expand the tunnel system and stations across the city of Las Vegas.
We recently reported that the Boring Company applied for the authorization to start expanding the Loop.
The LVCVA Loop aimed to go into operation for CES 2021. The event has been changed to be virtual-only due to the coronavirus pandemic, but the Boring Company still plans for the system to be ready for the new year.
With the boring machine already there, the company is looking to start digging again soon.
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Author: Fred Lambert
Source: Electrek
