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The Boring Company’s garage-elevator site takes shape ahead of Dec 18 tunnel opening
The Boring Company continues to make progress on the garage elevator prototype in its Prairie Avenue work site, located roughly at the halfway point of the tunneling startup’s 2-mile test tunnel in Hawthorne, CA. As the days trickle down towards the test tunnel’s unveiling on December 18, The Boring Co. appears to be digging deep in order to ensure that its projects in the area are making good progress.
On the site of the tunneling startup’s garage-elevator prototype, work continued despite last week’s rains. Teslarati photographer Pauline Acalin was in the area last Thursday, and she was able to snap some pictures of workers near the site. Returning to the elevator’s location this Monday, it was evident that work progressed, as evidenced by the disappearance of a massive structure previously set up beside the garage-elevator’s pit.
- The Boring Company’s garage-elevator site as of 12/06/2018. (Credit: Pauline Acalin)
- A structure believed to be an elevator shaft was built beside the opening of the Prairie Ave. garage-elevator site. (Credit: Pauline Acalin)
- A structure believed to be an elevator shaft was built beside the opening of the Prairie Ave. garage-elevator site. (Credit: Pauline Acalin)
- The Boring Company’s garage-elevator site as of 12/10/2018. (Credit: Pauline Acalin)
A massive structure believed to be an elevator shaft is believed to have been installed in the garage-elevator as of 12/10/2018. (Credit: Pauline Acalin)
Images taken near the end of November showed a massive structure being set up by The Boring Company beside the pit where it extracted the segments of Godot, its first tunnel boring machine. While the Boring Company did not identify or confirm the purpose of the structure, its size and height suggested that it was a shaft for the underground elevator being built on the site, where vehicles will be lifted out from the test tunnel.
Considering that the elevator shaft was nowhere to be seen as of Monday, it appears safe to assume that the structure has already been installed in the elevator itself. This bodes well for the project, as the structure is a key component to the Boring Company’s plans in the area. The garage-elevator, after all, is a bit different from the tunneling startup’s other projects, such the Hawthorne tunnel or the Dugout Loop, in the way that it would not be opened to the public even when it gets completed.
Instead, the structure would be used strictly for testing purposes only, with vehicles being moved from the test tunnel into the elevator, before being lifted onto the street. In a statement to Mercury News last September, Boring Company representative Jane Labanowski described the garage-elevator as an “important part of the longer-term vision the company is trying to build.” If the garage-elevator works as intended, it is not difficult to imagine The Boring Company rolling out the concept to its future stations, particularly those located near or even within residential areas.
- The Boring Company’s garage-elevator site as of 12/06/2018. (Credit: Pauline Acalin)
- The Boring Company’s garage-elevator site as of 12/06/2018. (Credit: Pauline Acalin)
- The Boring Company’s garage-elevator site as of 12/06/2018. (Credit: Pauline Acalin)
- The Boring Company’s garage-elevator site as of 12/06/2018. (Credit: Pauline Acalin)
- The Boring Company’s garage-elevator site as of 12/06/2018. (Credit: Pauline Acalin)
- The Boring Company’s garage-elevator site as of 12/10/2018. (Credit: Pauline Acalin)
- The Boring Company’s garage-elevator site as of 12/10/2018. (Credit: Pauline Acalin)
Work continues on the site of The Boring Company’s garage-elevator concept. (Credit: Pauline Acalin)
Similar to The Boring Company’s other projects, the vehicles that would be transported from the SpaceX headquarters to the elevator will be traveling through the startup’s electric skates. These skates use Hyperloop technology, and are expected to facilitate high-speed transportation from the tunnels to the garage-elevator.
The Boring Company initially announced that it would hold an opening party for its Hawthorne test tunnel on December 10, with test rides in the system being offered to the public for free the following day. In a recent announcement, though, Elon Musk stated that the test tunnel’s opening event is being moved to December 18 instead. Musk did not give a specific reason behind the delay, though considering the work still being done on some Boring Company projects like the Prairie Avenue elevator, there is a good chance that the tunneling startup is opting to refine some of its projects further before unveiling them to the public.
News
Tesla reveals first vehicle model to receive Starlink integration
Tesla has evidently revealed which of its vehicle models will be the first to receive Starlink integration: the Cybercab.
Tesla’s Santana Row showroom now has a full-fledged display of the Cybercab, with an extensive bit of information hung around an exhibit that seems to reveal the vehicle’s newest feature: an integrated Starlink antenna that will enable secure and reliable internet access during trips.

Credit: @Starscream_SJC | X
Cybercab is geared toward autonomous ride-hailing for one or two passengers. The production units rolling off the lines at Gigafactory Texas are built without steering wheels or pedals, meaning when public rides begin, passengers will not need to interact with a human being or control the vehicle in any way outside of what appears on the center screen for their entertainment during the ride.
Tesla Santana Row will be reopening tomorrow with a full focus on self-driving. Everything in the showroom is about Robotaxi and Cybercab with stats and information about the technology. The Cybercab on display is the production model. pic.twitter.com/yIUYdOGFOp
— Shaun Cassidy (@Starscream_SJC) July 20, 2026
Along the display, Tesla wrote this message about Cybercab:
“Cybercab is built for autonomy. It has no steering wheel, no side mirrors, and no pedals. It goes where you tell it to go and how you want it to, so you can relax along the way. It is hyper aware and responsive to your surroundings, monitoring other drivers, responding to emergency vehicles, utilizing its expertise in the rarest scenarios to help keep you safe.”
Tesla has been teasing a potential Starlink integration for quite some time now. In December, the company hinted at potential Starlink internet terminal integration within its vehicles in a patent that described a vehicle roof assembly with integrated radio frequency (RF) transparency.
The company wrote in its patent application that a new roof design built with materials that differ from the standard metallic or glass elements used in today’s cars would allow it to integrate modern vehicular technologies, in particular, ones that require radio frequency transmission and reception.
Tesla suggested high-strength polymer blends, like Polycarbonate, Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene, or Acrylonitrile Styrene Acrylate.
This is the first time we’ve seen Tesla officially confirm the Starlink integration into the Cybercab. It’s not much of a surprise considering the company’s intention behind the Cybercab, which is to make travel autonomous.
Productivity will now be at a maximum during a work-related commute, while the center screen could be utilized for Netflix or potentially even live TV for those who are heading to dinner or to a fun activity.
News
SpaceX adjusts Starship Flight 13 test launch target date once again
SpaceX has updated its target for the thirteenth integrated flight test of Starship, aiming for as early as Thursday, July 23. The 90-minute launch window opens at 5:45 p.m. CT from the company’s Starbase facility in South Texas.
The target flight was initially rescheduled for today, but SpaceX pushed it back again.
This latest adjustment follows an aborted attempt earlier in the week and reflects the iterative, rapid-development approach that has defined the Starship program. With the vehicle already stacked and ground teams making final preparations, the mission represents another step toward proving the full reusability of the world’s most powerful rocket system.
Now targeting to launch Starship’s thirteenth flight test as early as Thursday, July 23 → https://t.co/Rp7VwBzpWx pic.twitter.com/Y0YNzfc5zk
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) July 19, 2026
The original launch attempt on July 16 was scrubbed at T-0 when several Raptor engines on the Super Heavy booster failed to ignite properly. The automatic abort system triggered just as the engines began their startup sequence, preventing liftoff.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk confirmed that some engines did not start as expected, prompting the decision to replace two Raptors on Booster 20 to ensure reliability. The issue occurred despite a successful full-duration static fire earlier, highlighting the complexities of coordinating 33 engines under flight conditions.
This cautious approach underscores SpaceX’s commitment to safety amid an aggressive test cadence.
Flight 13 builds directly on the lessons from Flight 12 in May 2026. The Super Heavy booster’s primary goals include a successful liftoff, ascent, stage separation, boostback burn, and controlled splashdown in the Gulf of America.
Hardware and software modifications address the off-nominal flip and boostback burn problems from the prior flight, where propellant slosh and engine relight issues led to an uncontrolled impact.
For the Starship upper stage, objectives include deploying 20 operational Starlink V3 satellites, the first real payload of this type, performing a single Raptor engine relight in space, and executing a controlled entry, descent, and splashdown in the Indian Ocean. Propulsion upgrades aim to improve engine-out capability after one vacuum Raptor was lost on Flight 12.
Additional test elements focus on heat shield performance. Six satellites carry cameras to image the tiles during flight, while white-painted tiles and upgraded attachments on flaps and the aft skirt will gather data for future reusability.
The FAA completed its mishap investigation into Flight 12 earlier this month, clearing the regulatory path.
This suborbital mission, the second with V3 vehicles, advances Starship toward operational missions, including potential crewed flights and support for NASA’s Artemis program. Success would mark significant progress in rapid reusability and satellite deployment from the massive system.
News
Elon Musk debunks $52 billion SpaceX-NVIDIA GPU deal
Elon Musk dismissed reports claiming SpaceX had placed a massive order for NVIDIA GPUs worth $52 billion. The denial came hours after Taiwanese media, citing unnamed industry sources, reported that SpaceX planned to acquire approximately 13,000 AI server racks, equating to roughly 1 million GB300 GPUs, from Foxconn.
Each rack was estimated at around $4 million, with deliveries potentially starting in late 2025.
The story suggested this would mark SpaceX’s first major foray into Foxconn-manufactured NVIDIA hardware, breaking from suppliers like Supermicro and Dell. Musk responded bluntly on X:
This is fake news
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 20, 2026
Despite the denial, the rumored scale aligns with SpaceX’s explosive growth in AI infrastructure. NVIDIA’s GB300 (successor to the GB200 NVL) racks deliver unprecedented performance for large-scale training and inference. A $52 billion commitment would dwarf most corporate AI budgets and provide the compute muscle needed for frontier models.
SpaceX already operates gigawatt-scale terrestrial clusters like Colossus in Memphis, Tennessee, and has monetized them aggressively through leasing deals.
SpaceX’s newest Starmind will make earth data centers obsolete
Major customers include Anthropic (paying ~$1.25 billion monthly for 220,000+ GPUs), Google (~$920 million monthly for 110,000 GPUs), and Reflection AI. These arrangements are projected to generate tens of billions in annual revenue, far outpacing traditional SpaceX businesses.
Such an investment would fuel internal AI efforts, particularly Grok models under the integrated SpaceXAI division, while supporting ambitious orbital data center plans. SpaceX envisions launching thousands of AI-optimized satellites powered by solar energy and cooled in space, bypassing terrestrial power and land constraints.
This “Starmind” constellation could position the company as a leader in space-based computing.
SpaceX as an Emerging AI Powerhouse
Once primarily known for reusable rockets and Starlink satellite internet, SpaceX has transformed into a multifaceted AI player.
The 2026 acquisition of xAI integrated Grok development directly into the company. Starlink’s low-latency global network complements massive compute clusters, enabling efficient data flow for training and serving AI models.
Musk has long argued that AI scaling demands solutions beyond Earth, citing things like real estate and electricity limits on the ground.
While the Foxconn deal may not be in the cards, SpaceX’s trajectory is continuing on the path of blending aerospace engineering with hyperscale AI to dominate both launches and intelligence infrastructure.











