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The Boring Company shares quick glimpse at Prufrock III in new photo
The Boring Company recently shared a new image on its official Twitter account, showing its custom-designed tunnel boring machine (TBM), Prufrock II. The image is quite interesting as it not only showed Prufrock II — it also provided a small glimpse at its successor, Prufrock III.
The Boring Company gave credit to its employees in its tweet, noting that the TBC team did a great job advancing rapid retrieval and continuous mining activities. “Prufrock II returns home after completing another Bastrop tunnel! Great job by TBC team in advancing rapid retrieval and continuous mining. And a subtle cameo by Prufrock III,” the tunneling startup wrote.
Prufrock II returns home after completing another Bastrop tunnel! Great job by TBC team in advancing rapid retrieval and continuous mining. And a subtle cameo by Prufrock III… pic.twitter.com/KAx7AW0XQd
— The Boring Company (@boringcompany) March 29, 2023
At least based on Prufrock III’s small cameo in the Boring Company’s photo, it appears that the third-generation custom tunneling machine might be ready for deployment soon. The eventual launch and performance of Prufrock III are extremely interesting, considering the company’s ambitious targets for the machine.
The Boring Company formally described Prufrock during its 2018 information session. At the time, the tunneling startup noted that Prufrock would be a fully Boring Company-designed TBM. Musk noted then that Prufrock would be about 10-15x faster than current tunnel boring machines in the market. This is partly due to the startup’s all-electric approach, which makes it easier to construct cleaner tunnels.
Prufrock’s official page on the Boring Company’s website shows that the tunnel boring machine is designed for quick projects, with the TBM designed to start tunneling within 48 hours of arrival on a digging site. It also has very lofty goals in terms of performance, with its medium-term goal exceeding “1/10 of human walking speed, which is 7 miles per day.”
That’s a pretty insane target for a tunnel boring machine. After all, a Robbins open-type TBM used in the Katoomba Carrier tunnel set several world records, posting a best day of 172.4 m (565.6 ft), a best week of 702.8 m (2,305.7 ft), and a best monthly average of 1,189 m (39,000 ft) during its operations. Such a machine would be considered very slow compared to Prufrock’s target speed.
So far, The Boring Company appears to have deployed at least one Prufrock machine to one of its commercial projects. On February 2022, the tunneling startup shared a short video of Prufrock-1 arriving at Resorts World on the Las Vegas Strip. Considering the growing scope of the Vegas Loop, The Boring Company’s Prufrock II and Prufrock III machines may very well end up helping their predecessor build out Sin City’s Loop system.
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Tesla FSD (Supervised) could be approved in the Netherlands next month: Musk
Musk shared the update during a recent interview at Giga Berlin.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk shared that Full Self-Driving (FSD) could receive regulatory approval in the Netherlands as soon as March 20, potentially marking a major step forward for Tesla’s advanced driver-assistance rollout in Europe.
Musk shared the update during a recent interview at Giga Berlin, noting that the date was provided by local authorities.
“Tesla has the most advanced real-world AI, and hopefully, it will be approved soon in Europe. We’re told by the authorities that March 20th, it’ll be approved in the Netherlands,’ what I was told,” Musk stated.
“Hopefully, that date remains the same. But I think people in Europe are going to be pretty blown away by how good the Tesla car AI is in being able to drive.”
Tesla’s FSD system relies on vision-based neural networks trained on real-world driving data, allowing vehicles to navigate using cameras and AI rather than traditional sensor-heavy solutions.
The performance of FSD Supervised has so far been impressive. As per Tesla’s safety report, Full Self-Driving Supervised has already traveled 8.3 billion miles. So far, vehicles operating with FSD Supervised engaged recorded one major collision every 5,300,676 miles.
In comparison, Teslas driven manually with Active Safety systems recorded one major collision every 2,175,763 miles, while Teslas driven manually without Active Safety recorded one major collision every 855,132 miles. The U.S. average during the same period was one major collision every 660,164 miles.
If approval is granted on March 20, the Netherlands could become the first European market to greenlight Tesla’s latest supervised FSD (Supervised) software under updated regulatory frameworks. Tesla has been working to secure expanded FSD access across Europe, where regulatory standards differ significantly from those in the United States. Approval in the Netherlands would likely serve as a foundation for broader EU adoption, though additional country-level clearances may still be required.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk estimates Tesla Semi could reach Europe next year
“We’ve got the Tesla Semi coming out, the heavy truck, and that’ll be going to Europe hopefully next year,” Musk said.
Tesla is preparing to expand its all-electric Semi truck program to Europe, with CEO Elon Musk indicating that the Class 8 vehicle could arrive in the region 2027.
Musk shared his update during an interview about Giga Berlin with plant manager André Thierig, which was posted on X by the official Tesla Manufacturing account.
“We’ve got the Tesla Semi coming out, the heavy truck, and that’ll be going to Europe hopefully next year,” he said.
Tesla has already begun limited production and customer deployments of the Tesla Semi in the United States, with the company working to scale output through the Semi factory near Giga Nevada. Considering Musk’s comments, it appears that a European rollout would be the next phase of the vehicle’s expansion beyond North America.
Musk’s use of the word “hopefully” leaves room for flexibility, but the remark signals that Europe is next in Tesla’s commercial expansion plans.
Musk has consistently argued that electrification should extend beyond passenger vehicles. During the same interview, he reiterated his view that “all ground transport should be electric,” adding that ships, and eventually aircraft, would follow.
The Semi plays a central role in that strategy. Heavy-duty freight remains one of the most emissions-intensive segments of road transport, and European regulators have increasingly pushed for lower-emission commercial fleets.
Tesla recently refreshed the Semi lineup on its official website, listing two variants: Standard and Long Range. The Standard trim offers up to 325 miles of range with an energy consumption rating of 1.7 kWh per mile, while the Long Range version provides up to 500 miles, which should be more than ample for European routes.
Elon Musk
Tesla Cybercab coming next to Giga Berlin, Optimus possibly after
“From a next major product standpoint, I think most likely is the Tesla Cybercab,” Musk said.
Tesla could add the Cybercab and Optimus humanoid robot to the production lineup at Giga Berlin, as per recent comments from CEO Elon Musk.
During a recent interview with Giga Berlin plant manager André Thierig, Musk identified the Cybercab as the most likely next major product for the German factory, with Optimus potentially following after.
“From a next major product standpoint, I think most likely is the Tesla Cybercab,” Musk said. He added that there are also “possibilities of Tesla Optimus” being produced in the facility.
Tesla has already begun production of the Cybercab in Giga Texas, with volume production expected to ramp this year. Based on Musk’s comments, it appears that if conditions align in Europe, Giga Berlin could eventually join that effort.
The CEO’s comments about Optimus coming to Gigafactory Berlin are quite unsurprising too considering that Musk has mentioned in the past that the humanoid robot will likely be Tesla’s highest volume product in the long run.
Giga Berlin will likely be able to produce mass volumes of Optimus, as the Model S and Model X lines being converted to an Optimus line in the Fremont Factory are already expected to produce 1 million units of the humanoid robot annually.
Apart from his comments about the Cybercab and Optimus, Elon Musk also confirmed that Giga Berlin has started ramping battery cell production and will continue expanding Model Y output, particularly as supervised Full Self-Driving (FSD) gains regulatory approvals in Europe.
Taken together, the remarks suggest Berlin’s role could evolve beyond vehicle assembly into a broader multi-product manufacturing hub, not just a regional Model Y plant.