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Elon Musk’s Boring Company completes Las Vegas tunnel major milestone

Credit: Multivista Construction Documentation

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The Boring Company’s first Las Vegas tunnel reached a major milestone on Friday after completing excavation on the first of two planned vehicular tunnels beneath the Las Vegas Convention Center campus.

The boring machine broke through its target destination – a concrete wall located on the West Hall convention that’s currently under construction – in record time after tunneling nearly a mile since The Boring Company’s groundbreaking event in Las Vegas on November 15, 2019.

This would mark the first half of its high-speed transport system intended to shuttle convention attendees across the sprawling Las Vegas Convention campus in just over one minute, free of charge, in all-electric Tesla vehicles. Tesla’s goal is to complete the Las Vegas Convention Center’s loop system on time for the next year’s 2021 CES technology show.

Once the first tunnel is completed, the tunneling startup is expected to disassemble its TBM from the west end of the West Hall and moved back to the east end of the East Hall. Doing so completes the second tunnel, and it will mark the completion of the LVCC Loop’s transport line. After this, work will commence on fitting the tunnels to support The Boring Company’s transport pods, which will be ferrying passengers from one end of the LVCC to another. 

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The Las Vegas transport tunnels will be the first mainstream project of The Boring Company. Prior to the LVCC Loop, the tunneling startup has only completed a proof-of-concept tunnel in Hawthorne, CA, which involved Tesla Model X SUVs ferrying passengers from one end of the line to another. The Las Vegas tunnel system is poised to utilize another type of vehicle to transport passengers. The line will reportedly be using autonomous vehicles that have enough room for up to 16 people. 

While The Boring Company’s transport tunnel in Las Vegas is progressing well, the project is starting to become quite polarizing. In a statement to Inverse, Richard N. Velotta, a journalist who has been following the project’s progress, noted that public opinion has become very mixed today. “What I find most interesting is that those who are opposed are extremely opposed. Those who support are extremely supportive. No middle-of-the-road here,” he said. 

Among the LVCC Loop’s critics is Mayor Carolyn Goodman, who argued that the Boring Company and its technology are largely untested, and therefore risky. Yet, it should be noted that the tunneling startup’s contract for the project includes stipulations ensuring that The Boring Company will be liable if the system does not operate as intended. On the other hand, the project also has a number of ardent supporters. 

“There are huge supporters, both of the Boring system and Mr. Musk. They point out that Las Vegas, as a gambling city, has always taken big risks to capitalize on big rewards. This project is just such an instance,” said Velotta. 

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(Press release from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority)

Las Vegas Convention Center Celebrates Major Milestone in Elon Musk’s Innovative Underground Transportation System; Excavation of First Tunnel Complete

LAS VEGAS – The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) today announced that excavation is complete in the first of two vehicular tunnels that will comprise TBC – The Boring Company d/b/a Vegas Loop underground transportation system located beneath the Las Vegas Convention Center campus. After tunneling forty feet underground for nearly a mile over the past three months, the boring machine hours ago broke through the concrete wall located near the 1.4 million square foot West Hall convention center expansion, currently under construction, signaling the official completion of excavation for the first of two one-way tunnels.

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The Convention Center Loop was designed to serve as an innovative, fun and quick transportation solution to move thousands of convention attendees throughout the more than 200-acre campus with the potential for expansion in the near future to ease congestion throughout the Las Vegas resort corridor.

Next, the machine will be disassembled, transported via trucks and lowered back into the launch pit near the Convention Center’s South Hall where it will begin boring a parallel path adjacent to the first tunnel. The first commercial endeavor for the new tunneling company is designed to transport up to 4,400 convention attendees per hour and is scheduled to debut to the public in January 2021.

“This marks an important milestone in the future of transportation,” said Steve Hill, LVCVA CEO and president. “Las Vegas is proud to lead the way as the first and only destination to offer an underground transportation solution for moving visitors throughout our convention center.”

The $52.5 million underground transportation system will include three passenger stations connecting the existing 3.2 million square-foot of convention space with the convention center’s new West Hall, part of a $1.52 billion expansion and renovation. The system will allow convention attendees to be whisked across the sprawling campus in just over one minute, free of charge, in all-electric Tesla vehicles.

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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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SpaceXAI signs agreement with Anthropic for massive AI supercomputer access

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Credit: SpaceX

SpaceXAI announced today that it had signed an agreement with Anthropic to give the company access to its Colossus 1 data center in Memphis, Tennessee.

It is a monumental deal as Anthropic will gain access to all of the compute at the plant, delivering more than 300 megawatts of power and over 220,000 NVIDIA GPUs within the month.

Anthropic’s Claude AI account on X announced the partnership:

We’ve agreed to a partnership with SpaceX that will substantially increase our compute capacity. This, along with our other recent compute deals, means that we’ve been able to increase our usage limits for Claude Code and the Claude API.”

The company is also:

  • Doubling Claude Code’s 5-hour rate limits for Pro, Max, and Team plans;
  • Removing the peak hours limit reduction on Claude Code for Pro and Max plans; and
  • Substantially raising its API rate limits for Opus models.

SpaceX also published its own release on the new agreement, noting that it is “the only organization with the launch cadence, mass-to-orbit economics, and constellation operations experience to make orbital compute a near-term engineering program rather than a research concept.”

CEO Elon Musk also commented on the partnership and shed light on intense meetings he had with senior members of Anthropic last week, stating, “nobody set on my evil detector.”

This has turned the argument that SpaceX is as much an AI company as a space exploration company into a very valid argument:

SpaceX is following in Tesla’s footsteps in a way nobody expected

Nevertheless, this is an incredibly valuable and important move in the grand scheme of things. AI scaling is fundamentally bottlenecked by compute, and demand for Claude has surged, bringing terrestrial power grids, land, and cooling operations hitting limits everywhere.

Anthropic has been aggressively signing multiple large-scale deals to be competitive in the space, including:

  • Up to 5GW with Amazon
  • 5GW with Google and Broadcom
  • Strategic $30b Azure deal with Microsoft/NVIDIA
  • $50b U.S. infrastructure investment with Fluidstack

Access to Colossus 1 gives Anthropic immediate relief on NVIDIA GPU capacity. For SpaceXAI, it turns its rapid buildout into revenue. It also showcases its ability to deliver at world-leading speed and scale.

Most importantly, it plants the seed that its much larger vision, orbital AI compute, is totally viable.

Starlink V3 satellites could enable SpaceX’s orbital computing plans: Musk

Within the month, Anthropic will begin using 100 percent of Colossus 1’s compute, directly expanding capacity for Claude Pro and Max subscribers and the API. This means fewer limits, faster responses, and support for heavier workloads.

In the long term, meaning 2026 and beyond, there will be a continued rollout of other multi-GW deals Anthropic has signed, and an early exploration of orbital compute with SpaceXAI.

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Tesla unveils mysterious prototype at Giga Texas: Is the Model Y L coming to America?

The Model Y L has been available in China for some time, but Americans are wondering when it will potentially come to the United States, offering a larger version of the best-selling vehicle in the world, as the Model X is officially phased out.

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Credit: Joe Tegtmeyer | X

Tesla unveiled a mysterious prototype, covered up between a Model Y and a Cybertruck at Gigafactory Texas, perhaps giving yet another hint that the Model Y L is coming to America.

The Model Y L has been available in China for some time, but Americans are wondering when it will potentially come to the United States, offering a larger version of the best-selling vehicle in the world, as the Model X is officially phased out.

Giga Texas observer and drone operator Joe Tegtmeyer captured an image of the vehicle on May 6, showing a fully-covered prototype parked alongside a standard Model Y and a Cybertruck.

From top-down and angled views, the prototype appears nearly identical in scale to the Model Y but reveals noticeably distinct rear proportions—an elongated rear door that stretches farther over the wheel arch and rear glass that flows uninterrupted to the spoiler lip.

The side-by-side placement provides an immediate size reference. The mystery vehicle sits comfortably between the compact Model Y and the massive Cybertruck, suggesting it occupies a practical middle ground for families seeking more interior room without jumping to a full-size pickup.

Enthusiasts quickly took to social media with guesses ranging from an extended-wheelbase Model Y to a potential station-wagon variant.

The sight of this prototype follows an earlier look at another shrouded body-in-white resting in a wooden shipping crate at the Giga Texas plant in late March.

That prototype appeared to display an elongated silhouette. Some analysis seems to show nearly exact dimensions as to what is reported for the Model Y L in the Chinese market, approximately 4.98 meters long with a 3.04-meter wheelbase, roughly seven inches longer overall than the U.S.-spec Model Y. The rear-door extension and glass-to-spoiler design were identical to the current sighting:

Tesla shows off mysterious vehicle at Giga Texas

The Model Y L has already proven popular in China, where it launched in six- and seven-seat configurations and quickly ranked among the top-selling mid-to-large SUVs. Owners enjoy roughly 10 percent more cargo space and enhanced family versatility.

Tesla has remained silent on U.S. plans other than CEO Elon Musk saying it could come in late 2026, but localizing production at Giga Texas would make strategic sense.

With the Model X phase-out and steady Model Y output already humming along expanded lines, a longer-wheelbase variant could add tens of thousands of annual deliveries without major retooling.

The latest sighting arrives amid Tesla’s broader push to refresh its lineup. Whether this prototype represents the long-rumored Model Y L, a subtle Juniper-style update, or something entirely new remains unconfirmed.

Yet the consistent visual cues—precise dimensional match, distinctive rear styling, and strategic placement at Giga Texas—point strongly toward an extended Model Y designed for American families who want extra space without sacrificing the Model Y’s efficiency and affordability.Tesla watchers will be monitoring future drone flights closely.

If the prototype is indeed the Model Y L, it could mark a significant expansion of the company’s best-selling vehicle and deliver the extra room many U.S. buyers have been requesting for years. For now, the blue tarp keeps its secrets—but the clues are getting harder to hide.

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Tesla Roadster gets an update, but not the one fans were looking for

Tesla has quietly filed a new trademark application for its next-generation Roadster, giving enthusiasts their first official glimpse of fresh branding for the long-teased electric supercar.

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Credit: Dan Burkland

Tesla has been slow to show its hand regarding the massive project that is the Roadster, but it is now coming forth with a new update.

However, it is probably not the one fans were looking for.

Tesla has quietly filed a new trademark application for its next-generation Roadster, giving enthusiasts their first official glimpse of fresh branding for the long-teased electric supercar.

The February 3 filing includes an inverted triangular badge with the word “ROADSTER” centered above four vertical lines that, according to the application, represent “speed, propulsion, heat, or wind.”

A sleek, angular wordmark and a minimalist curved-line silhouette hinting at the car’s aerodynamic shape round out the trio of marks.

For a program that began with Elon Musk’s 2017 reveal, this is tangible forward motion. The original Roadster proved EVs could be thrilling; the next generation aims higher, with promises of sub-two-second 0-60 mph acceleration and, in its most extreme configuration, optional SpaceX cold-gas thrusters for rocket-like thrust.

The new trademarks suggest Tesla is now locking down the visual identity that will accompany those headline specs, as well as a small hint that maybe we’re finally getting close. However, the company has not revealed any progress on the vehicle itself or its specs to the public.

It continues to tease with developments like this one.

That said, the update lands with a familiar bittersweet note. Fans have waited nearly a decade since the initial unveiling. Production was once eyed for 2020, then 2021, then later still. In the intervening years, Tesla has delivered the Model Y, Cybertruck, Semi, and major autonomy advances while scaling its energy business.

The Roadster has taken a back seat, and the delays have been genuinely disappointing. Many longtime supporters have grown frustrated watching renderings and hearsay while other marques roll out ever-faster electric sports cars.

Elon Musk talks Tesla Roadster’s future

Yet, the Roadster program itself still sparks genuine excitement. It represents the purest expression of Tesla’s “accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy” mission—pushing performance boundaries to prove EVs can outperform anything with an engine.

The new branding, modest as it is, keeps that promise alive. It tells owners and prospective buyers that Tesla hasn’t forgotten the car that started it all.

No one would blame fans for wanting more than a logo right now. But in an industry where many concepts never leave the drawing board, the fact that Tesla continues to invest in and protect the Roadster’s identity is reason for measured optimism.

The wait has tested patience, but when the next-generation Roadster finally arrives, the new badge may well adorn one of the most exciting cars ever built. For those who have followed the journey this far, that payoff still feels worth it.

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