Elon Musk unveils underground passage in Los Angeles

Elon Musk has unveiled a tunnel underneath Los Angeles which the billionaire says is a milestone towards eliminating traffic in congested cities.

For the first time, Musk's Boring Co. offered rides in the 1.14-mile-long tunnel it has dug next to the Los Angeles suburban headquarters of rocket maker SpaceX, where Musk is CEO. In introducing the underground passage to the media and invited guests.

There is a path to alleviate traffic congestion in cities," Musk explained in meeting with reporters. "We’re not saying stop all other solutions. We’re saying this is a solution that will actually work."

It will transport passengers travelling in Tesla cars, modified to fit onto a track, that can travel at up to 50 miles per hour, although Musk said future tunnels could transport people at 150mph.

The Boring Company, which Musk set up to bore holes underneath cities after becoming exasperated at traffic in Los Angeles, eventually plans to build loops of two-way tunnels underneath cities with entry and exit points.

But the strategy outlined with Musk and Boring Co. leader Steve Davis leaves plenty of room for scepticism. Tunnelling is complicated. It can bog down amid concerns over oil or natural gas pockets and changing geology. Except for its 6,000-foot tunnel, the Boring Co. has no track record and is yet to employ the technologies that it hopes will cut the costs of cutting through the earth.

In addition to Los Angeles, where the Boring Co. has talked about building a tunnel to Dodger Stadium, Musk said Chicago is a likely candidate for a tunnel network. Las Vegas could be another candidate.

Underscoring its evolving nature, Musk unveiled some major changes from what was previously known about the $10-million project in Hawthorne.

The cars would be electric and autonomous, eliminating issues of exhaust fumes and minimizing the chance they could crash into each other, he said.

They would be lowered into the tunnels on metal platforms like those in some parking garages, which require no more than two parking spaces on the surface.

But because the cost of building tunnels can be cut dramatically, Musk said there's no limit how many can be built in order to add capacity — unlike restricted highway space on the surface.