--- title: "The Boring Company Just Showed Off Its First Completed Tunnel" description: "The Boring Company just threw a big party to show off its newly completed first stretch of its test tunnel in Hawthorne, California." date: "2018-12-19" modified: "2018-12-19" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/boring-company-hawthorne-tunnel-complete-event" categories: - "Advanced Transport" tags: - "boring company" - "boring tunnel" - "elon musk" - "SpaceX" --- # The Boring Company Just Showed Off Its First Completed Tunnel ![The Boring Company just threw a big party to show off its newly completed first stretch of its test tunnel in Hawthorne, California.]() *\Image: The Boring Company\* ## Elon and Friends Elon Musk's Boring Company just revealed its first completed tunnel to the world. Or at least, it's the "first section" of its first tunnel, according to the [company's website](). The company threw a [massive party]() last night, showing off the tunnel to hundreds of members of the press and investors — rumor has it even Kendrick Lamar and Diplo [showed up](). Despite the fanfare and hype, reality leaves us wanting more — the Hawthorne test tunnel is still a far cry from the future the Boring Company promised us. ## Big Promises The Boring Company got a lot of attention back in 2017 thanks to a slick [video]() of a Tesla parking on the side of the road before being swallowed by an elevator and zipping along on a skate through a system of wide underground tunnels. https://youtu.be/tfV8z2JY_bI This year, we got another [video]() of the company's plans for high capacity passenger pods will be able to pick up passengers on the surface, which it said would speed through expansive tunnels at speeds of up to 150 mph (240 km/h). But those are visions are very different from what the company unveiled Tuesday. ## Boring Vision The first section of the Boring Company's test tunnel stretches 1.14 miles (1.83 kilometers) from "O'Leary Station" — essentially a hole in the ground with a car elevator — near the SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California to a parking lot nearby. The company also [got permission]() to hook up a nearby suburban-style garage to the tunnel in the future. The tunnel is only 14 feet in diameter, which can fit a single Tesla car at a time. During the company's opening event last night, invitees were chauffered down the tunnel in a Tesla Model X at speeds of up to 40 mph (64 km/h), *The Verge* [reports](). Rather than having custom passenger pods zip along the tunnels — Musk promised ["road legal" autonomous cars]() in a December 8 [tweet]() — a pair of small wheels attach to the underside of a Model X, and pull it along inside the tunnel. “The car is the skate,” Musk says, as [quoted]() by *The Verge*. If you're keeping score: no skates, no passenger pods, no [promised 150 mph]() (240 km/h). ![]() ## Light at the End of the Tunnel Creating a web of high-speed transportation tunnels running underneath cities like Los Angeles is a Sisyphean task, and it will take a lot of time until we'll see significant progress — *The Verge* suggests environmental regulations alone could add [three to four years]() to the company's timeline. But the Boring Company is well aware of this. There's a reason its official mascot is [Gary The Snail](). **READ MORE:** [I took a ride through Elon Musk’s new tunnel in California]() \[The Verge\] ***More on the Boring Company's tunnel: [Elon Musk’s Boring Company to Launch “Road Legal” Autonomous Cars]()*** ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()