Coming to all of Vegas. Eventually.
Mick Akers/Review Journal/Twitter
Today, the Boring Company will take you on a ride underneath the Las Vegas convention center. Tomorrow, a Tesla may take you up and down the Las Vegas strip. Clark County confirmed on Twitter it reached an agreement with Elon Musk’s Boring Company to create a network of tunnels below the strip to operate a “transportation system.” That “system” today is a series of human-driven Teslas, but the plan is to one day deploy autonomous shuttles in these tunnels. The Verge first reported the news on Wednesday.
In addition to the strip and convention center, the system will expand to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and Allegiant Stadium. If the Boring Company follows through, it could be a game changer for pedestrian traffic above ground. However, today’s version of the “Vegas loop” remains underwhelming compared to Musk’s dreams from years ago. Once upon a time, sleds were supposed to move cars underground and pop them back above ground elsewhere to alleviate traffic. There were also supposed to be pods that prioritized pedestrians and cyclists, too.
So far, that’s not happening. Instead, the “Teslas in Tunnels” approach is the way to go with human drivers creeping through the convention center loop. It still feels like the Boring Company may be onto something, but adding more cars underground doesn’t exactly seem like a congestion solution. We’ll have to wait and see if grander plans come out of this new Vegas project.
Watch this:
Road testing the Boring Company Loop under Las Vegas
3:50
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