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The Boring Company’s innovations take center stage at Hawthorne test tunnel opening event
Two years ago, Elon Musk founded a tunneling startup aimed at battling what he creatively described as “soul-destroying traffic.” Musk’s idea was simple — traffic congestion can be addressed by using underground tunnels where vehicles can travel at extremely fast speeds on electric skates. Hence, a startup aptly named The Boring Company was born.
Since then, the tunneling company has acquired a high-profile project in Chicago, developed low-cost bricks from tunneling rocks, and completed its first test tunnel. Constructed on the backyard of the SpaceX headquarters, the Boring Company’s Hawthorne test tunnel was unveiled on Tuesday in an opening party, complete with entertainment, fun activities, and a medieval watchtower overlaid with Boring Bricks.
Being smaller in diameter than traditional tunnels, The Boring Company’s projects are more cost-effective and faster to construct. Its 1.14-mile Hawthorne tunnel, for example only cost ~$10 million to build, including internal infrastructure, lighting, comms/video, safety systems, ventilation, and tracks. Conventional tunneling projects, which involve larger tunnels and traditional digging methods, could cost as much as $1 billion per mile.
Elon Musk conducted an information session to members of the press prior to the official start of the unveiling. During the meeting, Musk discussed some updates about the startup’s concepts. For one, Musk noted that The Boring Company had changed its idea of using electric skates to propel cars. Instead of using pre-made electric skates, the company is now using the vehicle as the skate itself.
“There won’t be a skate — no more skate. The vehicle is the skate,” Musk said.
- (Photo: Tom Cross/Teslarati)
- (Photo: Tom Cross/Teslarati)
- (Photo: Tom Cross/Teslarati)
- (Photo: Tom Cross/Teslarati)
- (Photo: Tom Cross/Teslarati)
- (Photo: Tom Cross/Teslarati)
Tesla Model X fitted with electric skates for transportation through The Boring Company’s Hawthorne test tunnel. (Photo: Tom Cross/Teslarati)
The Hawthorne test tunnel would be utilizing the Loop System, which is designed to accommodate cars and passenger pods. During the Q&A, Musk noted that the Loop is a step towards the eventual creation of Hyperloop, which utilizes pods traveling inside low-pressure tubes at speeds of up to 700 mph. “The loop is a stepping stone toward Hyperloop. Loop is for transport within a city. And Hyperloop is transport between cities,” Musk said.
Apart from referencing Hyperloop transportation, Musk further discussed other possible uses for The Boring Company’s technology. Reiterating an idea he expressed during a “fireside chat” in Los Angeles with LA Mayor Eric Garcetti, Musk noted that the Boring Co.’s tunnels could also be used for utilities such as water lines. Due to the tunnels’ construction and design, Musk stated that “If a water main breaks, it floods through the tunnel one end, and gets pumped out the other.” This would allow cities to address utility issues without much hassle.
Just like Musk’s other companies like Tesla and SpaceX, The Boring Company is in a constant process of innovation. The startup, for one, continues to design and develop its third-generation Tunnel Boring Machine. Once operational, the new TBM would be capable of digging 15 times faster than a conventional boring machine. Apart from using a fully-electric system to increase power, The Boring Machine is also designing the upcoming TBM’s cutter head to process more dirt. In yet another step away from convention, the tunneling startup is also creating reinforcement segments on site using the dirt excavated from the tunnel itself.
Musk has noted that The Boring Company’s tunneling projects are already attracting a lot of interest, stating that “we have more demand on tunnels than we can satisfy,” and that “we have people hounding us to invest nonstop.” In a flourish of classic Elon Musk humor, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO noted that “it’s kinda ridiculous how much interest we’ve had in investing in Boring Company.” Elaborating further, Steve Davis, the CEO of the Boring Company, added that the startup receives “greater than 5 and less than 20 requests per week from different municipalities and stakeholders.”
Elon Musk
Tesla to a $100T market cap? Elon Musk’s response may shock you
There are a lot of Tesla bulls out there who have astronomical expectations for the company, especially as its arm of reach has gone well past automotive and energy and entered artificial intelligence and robotics.
However, some of the most bullish Tesla investors believe the company could become worth $100 trillion, and CEO Elon Musk does not believe that number is completely out of the question, even if it sounds almost ridiculous.
To put that number into perspective, the top ten most valuable companies in the world — NVIDIA, Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, TSMC, Meta, Saudi Aramco, Broadcom, and Tesla — are worth roughly $26 trillion.
Will Tesla join the fold? Predicting a triple merger with SpaceX and xAI
Cathie Wood of ARK Invest believes the number is reasonable considering Tesla’s long-reaching industry ambitions:
“…in the world of AI, what do you have to have to win? You have to have proprietary data, and think about all the proprietary data he has, different kinds of proprietary data. Tesla, the language of the road; Neuralink, multiomics data; nobody else has that data. X, nobody else has that data either. I could see $100 trillion. I think it’s going to happen because of convergence. I think Tesla is the leading candidate [for $100 trillion] for the reason I just said.”
Musk said late last year that all of his companies seem to be “heading toward convergence,” and it’s started to come to fruition. Tesla invested in xAI, as revealed in its Q4 Earnings Shareholder Deck, and SpaceX recently acquired xAI, marking the first step in the potential for a massive umbrella of companies under Musk’s watch.
SpaceX officially acquires xAI, merging rockets with AI expertise
Now that it is happening, it seems Musk is even more enthusiastic about a massive valuation that would swell to nearly four-times the value of the top ten most valuable companies in the world currently, as he said on X, the idea of a $100 trillion valuation is “not impossible.”
It’s not impossible
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 6, 2026
Tesla is not just a car company. With its many projects, including the launch of Robotaxi, the progress of the Optimus robot, and its AI ambitions, it has the potential to continue gaining value at an accelerating rate.
Musk’s comments show his confidence in Tesla’s numerous projects, especially as some begin to mature and some head toward their initial stages.
Elon Musk
Celebrating SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy Tesla Roadster launch, seven years later (Op-Ed)
Seven years later, the question is no longer “What if this works?” It’s “How far does this go?”
When Falcon Heavy lifted off in February 2018 with Elon Musk’s personal Tesla Roadster as its payload, SpaceX was at a much different place. So was Tesla. It was unclear whether Falcon Heavy was feasible at all, and Tesla was in the depths of Model 3 production hell.
At the time, Tesla’s market capitalization hovered around $55–60 billion, an amount critics argued was already grossly overvalued. SpaceX, on the other hand, was an aggressive private launch provider known for taking risks that traditional aerospace companies avoided.
The Roadster launch was bold by design. Falcon Heavy’s maiden mission carried no paying payload, no government satellite, just a car drifting past Earth with David Bowie playing in the background. To many, it looked like a stunt. For Elon Musk and the SpaceX team, it was a bold statement: there should be some things in the world that simply inspire people.
Inspire it did, and seven years later, SpaceX and Tesla’s results speak for themselves.

Today, Tesla is the world’s most valuable automaker, with a market capitalization of roughly $1.54 trillion. The Model Y has become the best-selling car in the world by volume for three consecutive years, a scenario that would have sounded insane in 2018. Tesla has also pushed autonomy to a point where its vehicles can navigate complex real-world environments using vision alone.
And then there is Optimus. What began as a literal man in a suit has evolved into a humanoid robot program that Musk now describes as potential Von Neumann machines: systems capable of building civilizations beyond Earth. Whether that vision takes decades or less, one thing is evident: Tesla is no longer just a car company. It is positioning itself at the intersection of AI, robotics, and manufacturing.
SpaceX’s trajectory has been just as dramatic.
The Falcon 9 has become the undisputed workhorse of the global launch industry, having completed more than 600 missions to date. Of those, SpaceX has successfully landed a Falcon booster more than 560 times. The Falcon 9 flies more often than all other active launch vehicles combined, routinely lifting off multiple times per week.

Falcon 9 has ferried astronauts to and from the International Space Station via Crew Dragon, restored U.S. human spaceflight capability, and even stepped in to safely return NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams when circumstances demanded it.
Starlink, once a controversial idea, now dominates the satellite communications industry, providing broadband connectivity across the globe and reshaping how space-based networks are deployed. SpaceX itself, following its merger with xAI, is now valued at roughly $1.25 trillion and is widely expected to pursue what could become the largest IPO in history.
And then there is Starship, Elon Musk’s fully reusable launch system designed not just to reach orbit, but to make humans multiplanetary. In 2018, the idea was still aspirational. Today, it is under active development, flight-tested in public view, and central to NASA’s future lunar plans.
In hindsight, Falcon Heavy’s maiden flight with Elon Musk’s personal Tesla Roadster was never really about a car in space. It was a signal that SpaceX and Tesla were willing to think bigger, move faster, and accept risks others wouldn’t.
The Roadster is still out there, orbiting the Sun. Seven years later, the question is no longer “What if this works?” It’s “How far does this go?”
Energy
Tesla launches Cybertruck vehicle-to-grid program in Texas
The initiative was announced by the official Tesla Energy account on social media platform X.
Tesla has launched a vehicle-to-grid (V2G) program in Texas, allowing eligible Cybertruck owners to send energy back to the grid during high-demand events and receive compensation on their utility bills.
The initiative, dubbed Powershare Grid Support, was announced by the official Tesla Energy account on social media platform X.
Texas’ Cybertruck V2G program
In its post on X, Tesla Energy confirmed that vehicle-to-grid functionality is “coming soon,” starting with select Texas markets. Under the new Powershare Grid Support program, owners of the Cybertruck equipped with Powershare home backup hardware can opt in through the Tesla app and participate in short-notice grid stress events.
During these events, the Cybertruck automatically discharges excess energy back to the grid, supporting local utilities such as CenterPoint Energy and Oncor. In return, participants receive compensation in the form of bill credits. Tesla noted that the program is currently invitation-only as part of an early adopter rollout.
The launch builds on the Cybertruck’s existing Powershare capability, which allows the vehicle to provide up to 11.5 kW of power for home backup. Tesla added that the program is expected to expand to California next, with eligibility tied to utilities such as PG&E, SCE, and SDG&E.
Powershare Grid Support
To participate in Texas, Cybertruck owners must live in areas served by CenterPoint Energy or Oncor, have Powershare equipment installed, enroll in the Tesla Electric Drive plan, and opt in through the Tesla app. Once enrolled, vehicles would be able to contribute power during high-demand events, helping stabilize the grid.
Tesla noted that events may occur with little notice, so participants are encouraged to keep their Cybertrucks plugged in when at home and to manage their discharge limits based on personal needs. Compensation varies depending on the electricity plan, similar to how Powerwall owners in some regions have earned substantial credits by participating in Virtual Power Plant (VPP) programs.








