Connect with us

News

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

Credit: Multivista Construction Documentation

Published

on

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. 

Advertisement

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. 

Advertisement

 

(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.

Advertisement

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.

Advertisement

 

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.

Advertisement
Comments

News

Tesla FSD (Supervised) fleet passes 8.4 billion cumulative miles

The figure appears on Tesla’s official safety page, which tracks performance data for FSD (Supervised) and other safety technologies.

Published

on

Credit: Tesla

Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) system has now surpassed 8.4 billion cumulative miles.

The figure appears on Tesla’s official safety page, which tracks performance data for FSD (Supervised) and other safety technologies.

Tesla has long emphasized that large-scale real-world data is central to improving its neural network-based approach to autonomy. Each mile driven with FSD (Supervised) engaged contributes additional edge cases and scenario training for the system.

Credit: Tesla

The milestone also brings Tesla closer to a benchmark previously outlined by CEO Elon Musk. Musk has stated that roughly 10 billion miles of training data may be needed to achieve safe unsupervised self-driving at scale, citing the “long tail” of rare but complex driving situations that must be learned through experience.

The growth curve of FSD Supervised’s cumulative miles over the past five years has been notable. 

Advertisement

As noted in data shared by Tesla watcher Sawyer Merritt, annual FSD (Supervised) miles have increased from roughly 6 million in 2021 to 80 million in 2022, 670 million in 2023, 2.25 billion in 2024, and 4.25 billion in 2025. In just the first 50 days of 2026, Tesla owners logged another 1 billion miles.

At the current pace, the fleet is trending towards hitting about 10 billion FSD Supervised miles this year. The increase has been driven by Tesla’s growing vehicle fleet, periodic free trials, and expanding Robotaxi operations, among others.

With the fleet now past 8.4 billion cumulative miles, Tesla’s supervised system is approaching that threshold, even as regulatory approval for fully unsupervised deployment remains subject to further validation and oversight.

Continue Reading

Elon Musk

Elon Musk fires back after Wikipedia co-founder claims neutrality and dubs Grokipedia “ridiculous”

Musk’s response to Wales’ comments, which were posted on social media platform X, was short and direct: “Famous last words.”

Published

on

UK Government, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Elon Musk fired back at Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales after the longtime online encyclopedia leader dismissed xAI’s new AI-powered alternative, Grokipedia, as a “ridiculous” idea that is bound to fail.

Musk’s response to Wales’ comments, which were posted on social media platform X, was short and direct: “Famous last words.”

Wales made the comments while answering questions about Wikipedia’s neutrality. According to Wales, Wikipedia prides itself on neutrality. 

“One of our core values at Wikipedia is neutrality. A neutral point of view is non-negotiable. It’s in the community, unquestioned… The idea that we’ve become somehow ‘Wokepidea’ is just not true,” Wales said.

Advertisement

When asked about potential competition from Grokipedia, Wales downplayed the situation. “There is no competition. I don’t know if anyone uses Grokipedia. I think it is a ridiculous idea that will never work,” Wales wrote.

After Grokipedia went live, Larry Sanger, also a co-founder of Wikipedia, wrote on X that his initial impression of the AI-powered Wikipedia alternative was “very OK.”

“My initial impression, looking at my own article and poking around here and there, is that Grokipedia is very OK. The jury’s still out as to whether it’s actually better than Wikipedia. But at this point I would have to say ‘maybe!’” Sanger stated.

Musk responded to Sanger’s assessment by saying it was “accurate.” In a separate post, he added that even in its V0.1 form, Grokipedia was already better than Wikipedia.

Advertisement

During a past appearance on the Tucker Carlson Show, Sanger argued that Wikipedia has drifted from its original vision, citing concerns about how its “Reliable sources/Perennial sources” framework categorizes publications by perceived credibility. As per Sanger, Wikipedia’s “Reliable sources/Perennial sources” list leans heavily left, with conservative publications getting effectively blacklisted in favor of their more liberal counterparts.

As of writing, Grokipedia has reportedly surpassed 80% of English Wikipedia’s article count.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

News

Tesla Sweden appeals after grid company refuses to restore existing Supercharger due to union strike

The charging site was previously functioning before it was temporarily disconnected in April last year for electrical safety reasons.

Published

on

Credit: Tesla Charging

Tesla Sweden is seeking regulatory intervention after a Swedish power grid company refused to reconnect an already operational Supercharger station in Åre due to ongoing union sympathy actions.

The charging site was previously functioning before it was temporarily disconnected in April last year for electrical safety reasons. A temporary construction power cabinet supplying the station had fallen over, described by Tesla as occurring “under unclear circumstances.” The power was then cut at the request of Tesla’s installation contractor to allow safe repair work.

While the safety issue was resolved, the station has not been brought back online. Stefan Sedin, CEO of Jämtkraft elnät, told Dagens Arbete (DA) that power will not be restored to the existing Supercharger station as long as the electric vehicle maker’s union issues are ongoing. 

“One of our installers noticed that the construction power had been backed up and was on the ground. We asked Tesla to fix the system, and their installation company in turn asked us to cut the power so that they could do the work safely. 

Advertisement

“When everything was restored, the question arose: ‘Wait a minute, can we reconnect the station to the electricity grid? Or what does the notice actually say?’ We consulted with our employer organization, who were clear that as long as sympathy measures are in place, we cannot reconnect this facility,” Sedin said. 

The union’s sympathy actions, which began in March 2024, apply to work involving “planning, preparation, new connections, grid expansion, service, maintenance and repairs” of Tesla’s charging infrastructure in Sweden.

Tesla Sweden has argued that reconnecting an existing facility is not equivalent to establishing a new grid connection. In a filing to the Swedish Energy Market Inspectorate, the company stated that reconnecting the installation “is therefore not covered by the sympathy measures and cannot therefore constitute a reason for not reconnecting the facility to the electricity grid.”

Sedin, for his part, noted that Tesla’s issue with the Supercharger is quite unique. And while Jämtkraft elnät itself has no issue with Tesla, its actions are based on the unions’ sympathy measures against the electric vehicle maker. 

Advertisement

“This is absolutely the first time that I have been involved in matters relating to union conflicts or sympathy measures. That is why we have relied entirely on the assessment of our employer organization. This is not something that we have made any decisions about ourselves at all. 

“It is not that Jämtkraft elnät has a conflict with Tesla, but our actions are based on these sympathy measures. Should it turn out that we have made an incorrect assessment, we will correct ourselves. It is no more difficult than that for us,” the executive said. 

Continue Reading