Elon Musk’s Boring Company has applied to dig a tunnel under Tesla Gigafactory Texas in Austin, but it’s unclear what they plan to do with it.
The Boring Company has been in discussions with the state and municipal governments for several projects since moving to Texas, but as far as we know, they haven’t moved forward with any of them until now.
Now the company has applied with the city of Austin to build a tunnel on the Tesla Gigafactory Texas property.
The project is called “Colorado River Connector Tunnel,” and the description is not really informative:
The applicant is proposing a private access tunnel along with associated improvements.
Here’s the building permit application:
The Boring Company’s main project is its “loop” in Las Vegas. A Boring Company loop is a system of tunnels in which Tesla electric vehicles move people between stations to avoid surface traffic – much like a subway but with smaller vehicles that have more flexibility about where to stop.
The company has been exploring other projects across the US, but no other major project has moved forward.
Since moving to Pflugerville just outside of Austin, the Boring Company has set its sight on projects in Texas, but this is the first time that it has moved to a building permit application.
Electrek’s Take
It’s unclear what Tesla or the Boring Company plans to do with a “private access tunnel,” but Musk has previously made comments about Tesla using tunnels between its production facilities – more specifically between Fremont Factory and Gigafactory Nevada.
The Boring Company also discussed a loop system in Austin to connect downtown, the airport and Tesla Gigafactory Texas.
This might be the beginning of that project, or it could just be something for Tesla to use as part of Gigafactory Texas for its operations, or even for its planned “ecological paradise” around the factory.
What do you think? Let us know in the comment section below.
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