--- title: "Elon Musk’s Boring Company Announces Tunnel-Digging Contest" description: "Elon Musk's The Boring Company has decided to put on a fun competition, challenging the general public to dig a tunnel faster than a snail." date: "2020-07-09" modified: "2020-07-09" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musks-boring-company-announces-tunnel-digging-contest" categories: - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "boring company" - "elon musk" - "tesla" - "the boring company" - "the digest" --- # Elon Musk’s Boring Company Announces Tunnel-Digging Contest ![Elon Musk's The Boring Company has decided to put on a fun competition, challenging the general public to dig a tunnel faster than a snail.]() *\Image: Steve Jurvetson\* ## Digging a Hole Elon Musk's tunneling startup, The Boring Company, has decided to host a fun competition, challenging the general public to dig a tunnel faster than a snail — one of the company's [own main goals](). The objective in the "[Not-a-Boring Competition]()" is to come up with a tunneling solution that can dig a 30-meter (98 foot) tunnel with the equivalent opening of a circle with a .5 meter (19.7 inch) diameter. ## Dig Faster Prizes — the company has yet to reveal what they are — will be given out to teams that complete the tunnel in the quickest time and teams that dig with the most accuracy. The Boring Company will even send a tiny remote-controlled Tesla through the tunnel to test the driving surface. The company is eyeing Spring 2021 to hold the event. ## Tunnel to the Future The Boring Company was first dreamed up by Musk to realize the dream of the [Hyperloop](), a futuristic mode of transport that involves shooting passenger pods through a vacuum tube. As of right now, however, that dream has been downgraded to Tesla cars zipping through tunnels at considerable speeds. So far, the company has shown off [technology]() that could cut down the time and costs of digging tunnels for such a system considerably. But demand has been sluggish. The company is only working on a handful of projects right now, including a tunnel system that [connects various parts of the Las Vegas Convention Center](). Inside those tunnels, autonomous electric vehicles will ferry up to 4,400 passengers per hour, at speeds of up to 249 kilometers per hour (155 miles per hour), according to a May 2019 [press release](). **READ MORE:** [Elon Musk's Boring Company wants to hold its first tunneling competition]() \[*CNET*\] **More on The Boring Company:** [*Elon Musk’s Boring Co. Didn’t Ask Homeowners Before Tunneling Under Them*]() ## 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]()