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127 MPH through a tunnel under LA
- Thread starter BANKWUPT
- Start date
So they have ditched the idea of skates now, but haven't answered some important questions.
- What happens when you have cars that can't do 127 MPH in the tunnel?
- Can human drivers reliably steer down a tunnel that narrow at very high speed?
- What happens when someone has a blow-out at 127 MPH in a tunnel only wide enough for 1 car?
- What happens when parts fall off a car or something lobs their trash out the window?
- Presumably they now need a much more powerful HVAC system to extract emissions from fossil cars, and eliminating that was one of the big cost savings they planned, so has the cost gone up now?
- Is the capacity going to be as high as with skates, given that computer control of individual cars is supposed to decrease necessary safety gaps?
This also means that they have abandoned the idea of the driver being able to relax during the journey, as now they need to actively drive.
Hopefully they will present their new model soon.
- What happens when you have cars that can't do 127 MPH in the tunnel?
- Can human drivers reliably steer down a tunnel that narrow at very high speed?
- What happens when someone has a blow-out at 127 MPH in a tunnel only wide enough for 1 car?
- What happens when parts fall off a car or something lobs their trash out the window?
- Presumably they now need a much more powerful HVAC system to extract emissions from fossil cars, and eliminating that was one of the big cost savings they planned, so has the cost gone up now?
- Is the capacity going to be as high as with skates, given that computer control of individual cars is supposed to decrease necessary safety gaps?
This also means that they have abandoned the idea of the driver being able to relax during the journey, as now they need to actively drive.
Hopefully they will present their new model soon.
Maybe I'm missing something, but won't these tunnels be used by Tesla cars exclusively?
I don't know, is that he plan? Build a special tunnel just for Tesla cars?
I can't see that proposal getting very far, it won't be worth Tesla paying for it and obviously no city or business is going to pay for a tunnel that only accepts Teslas.
I think that's the whole point of it. Encouraging people into Teslas. Maybe it will accept other EVs but there's no way this project is designed for ICE vehicles or anything other than Autopilot as a minimum. Maybe others if they agree to use Tesla tech.?
It may take time, but once drivers can see how much time they'll save, the hedgehog will be laughing his little ass off.
More importantly, no city is going to give Boring Co rights to tunnel under a street for a Tesla-Only tunnel. The existence of a Tesla-Only tunnel would make it much harder to install transit tunnels or all-model car tunnels in the future. Other tunnels in the same street would have to be deeper, and so would tunnels in streets that cross the street with the Tesla-Only tunnel.
If the sled idea is going to be dropped, the only way it would make sense would to use autonomous EVs and I can't see Boring Co allowing anything other than Teslas or other vehicles using their tech. By all means prove me wrong.
This has got to be just a test setup for things like smoothing the tunnel floor and to get some publicity. It looks like they just used a macadam surface over the concrete.
Don't see what the point to all this is. There's no way a public tunnel is going to use Tesla cars on Autopilot for a very large set of reasons. I'm pretty doubtful that any vehicle relying on purely automatic steering will be allowed, for that matter. The point to the guide wheels was positive control. Driving on a macadam surface at 127 mph is hardly something that needs to be tested either.
Don't see what the point to all this is. There's no way a public tunnel is going to use Tesla cars on Autopilot for a very large set of reasons. I'm pretty doubtful that any vehicle relying on purely automatic steering will be allowed, for that matter. The point to the guide wheels was positive control. Driving on a macadam surface at 127 mph is hardly something that needs to be tested either.
Which is why it's a ridiculous idea. They won't be allowed to build one anywhere useful.
LN1_Casey
Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus
I don't think the tunnels will be Tesla only.
HOWEVER.
Legally, I don't see why they couldn't be. As long as the tunnel is paid for by private entities, and doesn't interfere with the systems already in place like sewage (which they are far enough underground I don't think that's an issue), why couldn't they get permission to build a tunnel? It's like a company getting an underground parking garage set up. They can limit entry all they want; it's their property. The city just ensures they followed applicable safety rules, and they didn't build ontop of someone else's land they were using. Who owns the dirt 100 feet down? Companies do 'fair use' all the time for certain areas, like when their drive ways connect to the street.
HOWEVER.
Legally, I don't see why they couldn't be. As long as the tunnel is paid for by private entities, and doesn't interfere with the systems already in place like sewage (which they are far enough underground I don't think that's an issue), why couldn't they get permission to build a tunnel? It's like a company getting an underground parking garage set up. They can limit entry all they want; it's their property. The city just ensures they followed applicable safety rules, and they didn't build ontop of someone else's land they were using. Who owns the dirt 100 feet down? Companies do 'fair use' all the time for certain areas, like when their drive ways connect to the street.
In the near term, it appears the plan is to use special, Tesla-built vehicles. See the Las Vegas Convention Center plan:
"According to The Boring Company, the system will use modified autonomous Tesla electric vehicles that carry up to 16 passengers each..."
Elon Musk Company To Build Las Vegas People Mover | 2019-05-28 | Engineering News-Record
Long-term, I'm not sure even Elon knows where this is going. Perhaps skateboards will return. But skateboards in the previous concept were basically electric cars that carried other cars. So it makes sense to start with an off-the-shelf electric car.
"According to The Boring Company, the system will use modified autonomous Tesla electric vehicles that carry up to 16 passengers each..."
Elon Musk Company To Build Las Vegas People Mover | 2019-05-28 | Engineering News-Record
Long-term, I'm not sure even Elon knows where this is going. Perhaps skateboards will return. But skateboards in the previous concept were basically electric cars that carried other cars. So it makes sense to start with an off-the-shelf electric car.
The problem that I have is that autopilot/full autonomy is not 100% identical each drive. So without skates we could infer that the car will vary quite a bit on the trajectory through the tunnel without a manual buffer. I wonder how they will overcome this.
I wonder how they will stop cars with non-functional AP entering the tunnel too. Aside from faulty hardware stuff like dirt and bird droppings can obscure the cameras, and there is no self-cleaning function for most of them. What happens if the car gets to the bottom of the entry ramp and AP won't engage?
Well, that raises another question. Presumably they will force AP to engage, they won't allow people to cancel it or take manual control.
Well presumably they are going to build public tunnels, so what is the point to a system that only works with privately owned Teslas?
I'm very doubtful that cities will give up public land, even underground, for a system that only works for private vehicles made by one company. If a company builds a parking garage on their own land, that's one thing, if a city allows them to build a garage under a public park, for instance, it's not likely to be a private lot only for the company's employees. Public outcry would be huge in most cities.
Beyond that, if The Boring Company is planning on guiding their vehicles with self driving systems rather than positive mechanical control, they're going to have to do a lot of safety proving and likely have some serious redundancy. This may well the the best way to go, but their existing systems aren't close to adequate.
LN1_Casey
Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus
I think if the venture causes no detriment to the land above (no cutting off water mains, tree roots, cellers, etc), then an easement can easily be purchased, either form the city or the private. And it's almost free money for the landowner of the surface to allow someone to burrow under them. Landlord Smuckatelly of the West side apartment complex isn't planning on digging down, after all.
Yeah but then every other manufacturer is going to want their private tunnels too.
LN1_Casey
Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus
And? There is plenty of space everywhere, because it's not just one plane to work with. You could go lower if you want the same route, or offset. The tunnels wouldn't intersect, or block one another.
Great, and when they wall want to emerge downtown, what are you going to do then? Have 20 different tunnel entrances clogging up the roads that the peasants who can't afford the tunnels have to use?
LN1_Casey
Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus
First come, first serve. If they are the ones who purchased the empty lot to build their entrance, the next company will have to find and buy their own to do the same.
As for the clogging up the roads; that's ANY business. People clog up the roads all the time, public ones, private ones. That's the issue of having a lot of people.
Arguable, a singular business, say Apple, will commission to have a tunnel spill into their parking lot from some not-inner city area. Then, their workers would have a direct route to their office building, and they wouldn't clog the regular roads other people are traveling to. Other people won't be using them, because it's Apple's tunnel.
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