Elon Musk Is Digging a Tunnel in a Residential Garage and Nobody Knows Exactly Why

We've got more questions than answers.

GOING DOWN

If all goes according to plan, workers will soon start to dig an elevator shaft into the garage floor of a Los Angeles County home on behalf of Elon Musk. When completed, the hole will carry automobiles under a nearby street and into a tunnel that connects to the Boring Company headquarters.

The local city council this week approved the project, which will be carried out by Elon Musk's Boring Company. The only wrinkle: nobody seems to know exactly why.

A SERIES OF TUBES

This morning, the SpaceX founder tweeted a link to coverage of the project, writing that the Boring Company "will transport your car all the way into your garage."

That's a promise that raises more questions than answers, though: does the company plan to dig tunnels to the homes of all its future customers? What would the elevators need to cost to finance all that digging, from the main tunnel to the person's home? And once the cars are in customers' garages, how are they supposed to get back out again?

A Boring Company spokesperson was equally enigmatic, telling local Southern California newspaper the Beach Reporter only that the dig was "an important part of the longer-term vision the company is trying to build."

One thing the garage will definitely not do: allow Boring Company employees to pull in off the street and cruise to work underground. As part of the approval, the company agreed not to allow cars to enter from the road. Though that seems like something the system would have to do eventually if the Boring Company wanted to make it really usable for customers.

EXECUTIVE DYSFUNCTION

Since Musk first tweeted about the Boring Company in 2016, the company's focus has zigged and zagged all over the place. Potential plans that have included supporting the Hyperloop, transporting individual cars, serving as a new form of public transportation and even digging tunnels on Mars (yes, really).

Will these garage elevators end up being a major part of the Boring Company's future operations (and how that would work logistically? Anybody's guess. For now, the company seems content to throw ideas against the wall and see what sticks. Given the way Musk uses his Twitter feed, that makes a lot of sense.

READ MORE: Elon Musk’s Boring Company earns approval for futuristic garage that would connect to underground commuter tunnel [The Beach Reporter]

More on the Boring Company: Elon Musk Says Hyperloop Will Put Pedestrians, Mass Transit First