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Elon Musk’s new video of his underground tunnel project will make you nauseated

Elon Musk’s new video of his underground tunnel project will make you nauseated

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‘Warning, this may cause motion sickness or seizures’

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Elon Musk/ Instagram

Elon Musk, a man of means by no means, released a batch of new images and videos from his latest high-concept tunnel venture, The Boring Company. But before you click play, grab your Dramamine because this may make you a little queasy.

This video shows the first in what Musk proposes to be a citywide network of underground tunnels through which cars, secured to electric sleds, would travel at speeds of up to 125 mph. Sounds fun, right? Watch that video again and tell me how ready you are to be the first to have your face peeled off in one of Musk’s tunnels. The first concept video he released a few weeks ago was a doozy, too.

“Full length of first tunnel will run from LAX to Culver City, Santa Monica, Westwood, and Sherman Oaks.”

More importantly, in another Instagram post, Musk revealed the first route for The Boring Company. “Full length of first tunnel will run from LAX to Culver City, Santa Monica, Westwood, and Sherman Oaks,” he wrote. “Future tunnels will cover all of greater LA.” Musk promises trips between Westwood and LAX, a trip that can take up to 30 to 45 minutes to normal LA traffic, would be a speedy five minutes via his tunnel.

It’s unclear whether Musk has received the necessary approval from the city government for this tunnel. A spokesperson for the Los Angeles Department of Public Works told Wired in January that more discussions with the City Council were needed before he could proceed with this project. We’ve reached out to the city for more information and will update this story when we hear back.

This video shows off the very front of Musk’s tunnel-boring machine, known as the cutterhead. Musk has said he’s working on tunnel-boring machines (TBMs) than can simultaneously dig up and reinforce tunnels, which could go a long way toward reducing costs and solving a big engineering challenge.

“Planning to jack this up to a factor of ten or more,” Musk writes in the caption. Not quite sure what that means, but it sounds pretty badass. Jack away, Mr. Musk.

The remaining image and videos show off the entry to Musk’s starter tunnel, the inside of the tunnel, and The Boring Company’s first TBM, aka Godot. (Yes, he named it after a play about existential doubt and procrastination. Lest we forget, this is the same guy who tried — and failed — to have the first four models of his electric cars spell S-E-X-Y.)

Musk says the TBM will end up being 100 feet long after its final assembly is complete. Once that happens, Godot will be pitted in a race against Gary, Musk’s pet snail who lives in a pineapple. You know, like Spongebob? I can’t believe I just had to type those words, but here we are.