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The Boring Company’s Las Vegas Loop tunnel project is coming to life

The Boring Company's TBM cutter head and mixing chamber arrive at the Las Vegas dig site.

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The Boring Company’s upcoming Loop project at the Las Vegas Convention Center appears to be coming to life, with the first images of the startup’s dig site emerging online. Images that have emerged of the startup’s activities reveal that The Boring Company has started shipping parts of a tunnel boring machine to Las Vegas, with a TBM cutter head and mixing chamber recently arriving at the location. 

Initial pictures of The Boring Company’s activities were shared on Twitter last week, courtesy of @JamesInLasVegas. The photos depicted heavy machinery surrounding the tunneling startup’s dig site, including several cranes and what appeared to be a pile driver. An image of a tunnel boring machine’s cutter head was also posted. 

A source familiar with the Boring Company’s current activities for the Las Vegas Convention Center Loop project recently informed Teslarati that the startup’s activities have started ramping over the past few weeks. The source, who has asked to remain anonymous, added that The Boring Company has been granted a pit permit, and thus, the startup has started the construction of a secant wall for the Loop system’s passenger station located on the east end of the LVCC’s South Hall. 

Similar to the initial Twitter posts that emerged of the ongoing project, the source also mentioned that parts of a tunnel boring machine started arriving Thursday night. First was what appeared to be a brand new cutter head, followed by a mixing chamber. Both these TBM parts were dropped off at a location that was visible from Desert Inn Blvd. 

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The Boring Company’s tunnel boring machine segments arrive at the Las Vegas site.

Interestingly, the secant wall is reportedly progressing quickly, and once this is done, excavation will soon follow. Overall, the Las Vegas Convention Center Loop appears to be progressing well, though hitting Elon Musk’s goal of completing the Loop system by the end of 2019 will likely remain a challenging task. But if the company’s digging technology is up for the challenge, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO’s timetable will likely prove feasible. 

Much of the details about The Boring Company’s tunneling plans for the Las Vegas Loop system are yet to be announced. Perhaps the biggest question right now is if the startup will be deploying its next-generation TBM for the project. The Boring Company’s Hawthorne test tunnel was built using Godot, a conventional tunnel boring machine. Elon Musk has since announced that the startup is working on two new machines, a hybrid TBM named Line-Storm, which is capable of digging around twice as fast as Godot, and Prufrock, an all-electric TBM that can dig around 10-15 times faster than a conventional tunneling machine, with very little noise and zero emissions. 

The Boring Company works on a tunnel boring machine.

Images of what appeared to be a new TBM being assembled at the tunneling startup’s lot in the vicinity of the SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne have been captured a few months ago. With this in mind, there seems to be a good chance that The Boring Company’s Las Vegas project could utilize one of the startup’s newer machines. Perhaps The Boring Company will play it safe and deploy Godot, which has already been tried and tested at Hawthorne, or perhaps the startup could utilize Line-Storm or Prufrock to complete the project faster.

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Simon is an experienced automotive reporter with a passion for electric cars and clean energy. Fascinated by the world envisioned by Elon Musk, he hopes to make it to Mars (at least as a tourist) someday. For stories or tips--or even to just say a simple hello--send a message to his email, simon@teslarati.com or his handle on X, @ResidentSponge.

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Elon Musk hints at Tesla Cybercab’s next market

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(Credit: Teslarati)

After launching in Austin, Texas, last week, Tesla is looking to expand the Cybercab to new parts of the United States in an effort that will see the driverless, steering wheel-less, and pedal-less vehicle chauffeur people around as part of the Robotaxi ride-hailing service.

However, the expansion will go far beyond the United States, and CEO Elon Musk revealed he hopes Europe will be the next market where Cybercab will be operational.

Musk has publicly expressed hope that Tesla’s Cybercab robotaxi will reach Europe in the near future.

On September 8, Tesla’s Chief Executive quoted a German rider who had just completed a trip in Austin, Texas, and wrote that he hoped the vehicle would not take years to arrive in Germany. Musk replied with a short but notable message: “Hopefully soon in Europe too.”

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The comment arrived only days after Tesla opened Cybercab ride-hailing to the public in Austin. The two-seat vehicle has no steering wheel or pedals and relies entirely on Tesla’s Full Self-Driving software. Early passengers have described the rides as quiet, smooth, and more stylish than competing robotaxis such as Waymo.

Austin is currently the only city where members of the public can hail a Cybercab through Tesla’s Robotaxi app. The initial fleet is small; Texas registration records show only a few dozen of the purpose-built vehicles on the road.

Tesla set to open Cybercab rides to the public, with no steering wheel or pedals

Tesla has also been operating a larger number of conventional Model Y robotaxis in the same area, but the Cybercab itself represents the company’s first dedicated, controls-free taxi design.

Europe presents a different regulatory picture. The European Union does not permit manufacturers to self-certify vehicles the way Tesla did in the United States.

Type-approval rules and a small-series limit of 1,500 automated vehicles per type per year apply across the bloc.

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Supervised Full Self-Driving has gained provisional approval in several member states through national recognition of Dutch certification, yet unsupervised robotaxi operation remains a separate and more distant step. Tesla has not announced a European launch city, date, or approval pathway for the Cybercab.

Musk himself has previously cautioned that the company does not control European regulators. In an earnings call earlier in 2026, he noted that even supervised FSD took an “immense amount of time” to clear and that unsupervised service would be “somewhat at the mercy of the governments in Europe and the EU.”

The latest social-media remark therefore functions more as an expression of intent than a timetable.

If the Cybercab eventually reaches European streets, it would mark a significant expansion of Tesla’s robotaxi ambitions beyond the United States. For now, the vehicle remains an Austin-only experience, and the gap between Musk’s hope and actual deployment will be decided by regulators rather than by engineering alone.

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Tesla Cybercab improvements are already on the minds of company engineers

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Credit: Tesla Europe & Middle East | X

Tesla Cybercab might have just rolled out to the public as it entered the company’s Robotaxi suite in Austin this past week. However, the vehicle might already be on its way to becoming even better, as the company is asking riders to describe what they’d like to see improved with the Cybercab.

Tesla sent a rider experience survey to Cybercab passengers only days after paid rides began in Austin. The questionnaire asks how satisfied riders were with the overall trip. Then it requests star ratings for availability and wait time, door functionality, vehicle touchscreen, mobile app experience, seat comfort, interior space, ride comfort, cleanliness, and cargo space.

A later section asks which features riders would most like to have and allows selection of up to three items from a list that includes heated seats, ventilated seats, fully reclining seats, a tray table, a wireless phone charger, a better sound system, and more storage. Respondents may also choose none of these or write in another idea. The survey closes with a recommendation score from zero to ten.

This rapid request for input illustrates Tesla’s habit of treating early users as collaborators rather than mere customers. The company has long refined vehicles through software updates and hardware changes informed by real-world use across its passenger cars.

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Collecting structured opinions so soon after commercial service started shows the same mindset applied to a purpose-built autonomous taxi. The questions themselves reveal an openness to cabin changes even after the first vehicles reached public streets, which is no surprise.

Tesla has always hoped to cater a great experience to anyone in its vehicles, which is why so many fan-requested features have made it into its vehicles.

Replies already circulating online favor reclining seats, tray tables, wireless charging, improved audio, and extra room when seats fold back.

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Those preferences point toward comfort upgrades that Tesla can implement in later production batches or through cabin revisions. Because the Cybercab is designed around software first principles, many requested amenities can arrive faster than in traditional automakers.

Tesla’s willingness to survey riders immediately after launch therefore makes near-term cabin and experience improvements likely as the team reviews responses and iterates toward a more refined robotaxi people will choose daily.

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Tesla Cybertruck engineer reveals new changes in ‘constantly evolving’ pickup

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Credit: Joe Tegtmeyer | YouTube

Tesla Cybertruck Lead Engineer Wes Morrill revealed the company has made several changes to the all-electric pickup, which he calls a “living thing, constantly evolving and improving.”

Cybertruck is manufactured at Tesla’s Gigafactory Texas just outside of Austin, and over the past few years, Tesla has continued to make small changes to the pickup to improve everything from cost, reliability, serviceablility, and manufacturability.

“The finish line isn’t getting to production. A product is a living thing, constantly evolving and improving,” Morrill added.

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Some of those changes are yet to be revealed, but perhaps the most notable one was the change Tesla made to the aero shield that sits underneath the truck. In the past, it was aluminum, but now the Cybertruck is using a self-reinforcing polypropylene.

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Morrill said that the polypropylene is “stretched into fibers and then laminated into the form,” and is much more durable, much lighter, and significantly cheaper than aluminum when it is manufactured this way.

It also enabled some improvements in the geometry of the Cybertruck, improving the manufacturing around the bolts and edges, in addition to minor form changes. These all benefitted the Cybertruck in more ways than one: specifically with durability and improved drag.

Typically, Teslas are not necessarily identified by model year because these changes are fluid and occur when the company sees fit to implement them. It is not like other automotive companies, which usually make sweeping manufacturing changes when building a new model year.

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Instead, Teslas are recognized by their “generation” or “era.” For example, those with a newer Model Y might refer to their car as a “Juniper.” This is the same with Model 3, as many refer to the new body style as the “Highland.”

Tesla’s manufacturing changes are proof of the company’s constant need to improve its products and move things forward with its vehicles. There is no need to drag one’s feet and wait until next year if the product can be made better right now, and that’s precisely what Tesla did with the Cybertruck.

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