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Elon Musk's Boring Company quietly deploys its custom-designed tunneling machine
As it turns out, Elon Musk’s tunneling startup, The Boring Company, has just completed and perhaps even deployed its custom-designed tunnel boring machine. The new digger features several innovations, and it could very well accelerate Musk’s vision of ultra-high-speed tunnels transporting vehicles and people through a vast network of tunnels underground.
The brief announcement was shared by the official Boring Company Twitter handle. The post was simple, showing a group of employees smiling in front of a tunnel boring machine that seems poised to start digging. In the tweet’s description, the startup posted the words “Prufrock is alive.”
This could very well be the biggest news to come out from the Boring Company since Elon Musk and TBC Head Steve Davis held an information session about the tunneling startup and its technologies at the Leo Baeck Temple in Los Angeles, CA back in May 2018. This is because unlike traditional tunnel boring machines (TBM), Prufrock is custom designed by The Boring Company, and it is expected to be capable of digging far quicker than its conventional counterparts.
The Boring Company started with Godot, a traditional boring machine that pretty much functions like a regular TBM. Godot is believed to be the boring machine that created the Hawthorne test tunnel, and while it works just as well as a TBM could, it is also immensely slow. Following Godot, the Boring Company designed Line-Storm, a TBM that is essentially a heavily modified conventional boring machine. In terms of speed, Line-Storm is capable of at least digging twice as fast as a traditional TBM like Godot.
But Godot and Line-Storm are just the beginning. During The Boring Company’s information session, Elon Musk and Steve Davis talked about a third tunneling machine. This machine, called Prufrock, is entirely designed by the startup, and it is expected to dig about 10-15 times faster than traditional boring machines like Godot. That’s a notable improvement over conventional diggers, and it has the potential to revolutionize tunneling technology in one fell swoop.
Elon Musk described each of the Boring Company’s TBMs as follows.
“Godot, which is the name of the first machine, is a conventional tunnel boring machine… So going from Godot to Line-Storm, Line-Storm is a highly modified boring machine, but it’s essentially a hybrid between a conventional boring machine and Prufrock, which is the fully Boring Company-designed machine. So Prufrock, that will be quite a radical change. Prufrock will be about ten times, aspirationally 15 times faster than current boring machines. I think very likely ten times.”
The Boring Company is involved in several projects, from the Dugout Loop in CA to the Las Vegas Convention Center tunnel in Nevada. Among these, the LVCC loop seems to be the most active, though the startup has not announced which of its machines had been deployed on the site. Considering that the TBM managed to complete the first of its two tunnels already, perhaps the machine digging under Las Vegas today is Line-Storm. As for Prufrock, the project where it will be deployed for the first time will likely be incredibly lucky.
The Boring Company’s potential disruption, after all, largely depends on how fast it could construct tunnels in a safe and efficient way. As noted by Elon Musk, this has a lot to do with the speed of TBMs themselves, as regular diggers move at a fraction of a snail’s pace. If The Boring Machine could at least match the speed of a snail, then a transport tunnel’s turnaround time would be drastically lower. This, of course, opens the doors to more tunnels being built, effectively ushering in Elon Musk’s vision of an ultra high-speed, underground future.
Tesla Cybercab is perhaps the most highly-anticipated project that the company plans to roll out this year, and as it is undergoing its testing phase in pre-production currently, there are some things to work through with it.
Over the weekend, an image of the Cybercab being loaded onto a tow truck started circulating on the internet, and people began to speculate as to what the issue could be.
Hmmmmmm… https://t.co/L5hWcOXQkb pic.twitter.com/OJBDyHNTMj
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) January 11, 2026
The Cybercab can clearly be seen with a Police Officer and perhaps the tow truck driver by its side, being loaded onto, or even potentially unloaded from, the truck.
However, it seems unlikely it was being offloaded, as its operation would get it to this point for testing to begin with.
It appears, at first glance, that it needs assistance getting back to wherever it came from; likely Gigafactory Texas or potentially a Bay Area facility.
The Cybercab was also spotted in Buffalo, New York, last week, potentially undergoing cold-weather testing, but it doesn’t appear that’s where this incident took place.
It is important to remember that the Cybercab is currently undergoing some rigorous testing scenarios, which include range tests and routine public road operation. These things help Tesla assess any potential issue the vehicle could run into after it starts routine production and heads to customers, or for the Robotaxi platform operation.
This is not a one-off issue, either. Tesla had some instances with the Semi where it was seen broken down on the side of a highway three years ago. The all-electric Semi has gone on to be successful in its early pilot program, as companies like Frito-Lay and PepsiCo. have had very positive remarks.
The Cybercab’s future is bright, and it is important to note that no vehicle model has ever gone its full life without a breakdown. It happens, it’s a car.
Nevertheless, it is important to note that there has been no official word on what happened with this particular Cybercab unit, but it is crucial to remember that this is the pre-production testing phase, and these things are more constructive than anything.
Tesla analyst Andrew Percoco of Morgan Stanley teased the company’s dominance in its self-driving initiative, stating that its lead over competitors is “not even close.”
Percoco recently overtook coverage of Tesla stock from Adam Jonas, who had covered the company at Morgan Stanley for years. Percoco is handling Tesla now that Jonas is covering embodied AI stocks and no longer automotive.
His first move after grabbing coverage was to adjust the price target from $410 to $425, as well as the rating from ‘Overweight’ to ‘Equal Weight.’
Percoco’s new note regarding Tesla highlights the company’s extensive lead in self-driving and autonomy projects, something that it has plenty of competition in, but has established its prowess over the past few years.
He writes:
“It’s not even close. Tesla continues to lead in autonomous driving, even as Nvidia rolls out new technology aimed at helping other automakers build driverless systems.”
Percoco’s main point regarding Tesla’s advantage is the company’s ability to collect large amounts of training data through its massive fleet, as millions of cars are driving throughout the world and gathering millions of miles of vehicle behavior on the road.
This is the main point that Percoco makes regarding Tesla’s lead in the entire autonomy sector: data is King, and Tesla has the most of it.
One big story that has hit the news over the past week is that of NVIDIA and its own self-driving suite, called Alpamayo. NVIDIA launched this open-source AI program last week, but it differs from Tesla’s in a significant fashion, especially from a hardware perspective, as it plans to use a combination of LiDAR, Radar, and Vision (Cameras) to operate.
Percoco said that NVIDIA’s announcement does not impact Morgan Stanley’s long-term opinions on Tesla and its strength or prowess in self-driving.
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang commends Tesla’s Elon Musk for early belief
And, for what it’s worth, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang even said some remarkable things about Tesla following the launch of Alpamayo:
“I think the Tesla stack is the most advanced autonomous vehicle stack in the world. I’m fairly certain they were already using end-to-end AI. Whether their AI did reasoning or not is somewhat secondary to that first part.”
Percoco reiterated both the $425 price target and the ‘Equal Weight’ rating on Tesla shares.
Elon Musk
Donald Trump turns to Elon Musk and Starlink amid Iran internet blackout
Donald Trump has stated that he plans to speak with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk about restoring internet access in Iran.
Donald Trump has stated that he plans to speak with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk about restoring internet access in Iran, as authorities in the country implement an internet blackout amid nationwide anti-government protests.
Trump points to Starlink
Speaking to reporters in Washington, Trump said Musk would be well-suited to help restore connectivity in Iran, citing his experience operating large-scale satellite networks, as noted in a Reuters report. “He’s very good at that kind of thing, he’s got a very good company,” Trump said.
Iran has experienced a near-total internet shutdown for several days, severely limiting the flow of information as protests escalated into broader demonstrations against the country’s rulers.
Starlink has previously been used in Iran during periods of unrest, allowing some users to access the global internet despite government blocks. Neither Musk nor SpaceX immediately commented on Trump’s remarks, but Musk has publicly supported efforts to provide Starlink access to Iranians during earlier periods of unrest.
Renewed Trump–Musk ties
Trump’s comments come amid a thaw in his previously strained relationship with Musk. The two had a public falling-out last year over domestic policy disagreements but have since appeared together publicly, including at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. The renewed ties now intersect with foreign policy, as Starlink has become a strategic tool in regions facing censorship or conflict.
The satellite service has also played a prominent role elsewhere, most notably in Ukraine, highlighting both its potential impact and the political sensitivities surrounding its use. In Iran, Starlink support previously followed coordination between Musk and U.S. officials during protests in 2022.
The current internet blackout in Iran has drawn international attention, with rights groups estimating hundreds of deaths and thousands of arrests since demonstrations intensified late last year. Iranian authorities have not released official casualty figures, and outside verification remains limited due to restricted communications.
Tesla Cybercab ‘breakdown’ image likely is not what it seems
Tesla analyst teases self-driving dominance in new note: ‘It’s not even close’
