Elon Musk’s Boring Company wants to build even more tunnels under Las Vegas

• Elon Musk’s Boring Company wants to build even more tunnels under Las Vegas, a new proposal showed.
• The expanded Vegas Loop would include 65 miles of tunnels, TechCrunch reported.
• The proposal makes no mention of autonomous vehicles despite Elon Musk’s hopes of using them.

Elon Musk’s Boring Company wants to almost double its network of tunnels under Las Vegas, but the Teslas used in them to transport passengers probably won’t be self-driving. 

A proposal filed recently with the City of Las Vegas, and first reported by TechCrunch, detailed the company’s plan to build as many as 65 miles of tunnels for its underground commuting system. 

The Vegas Loop was approved in October 2021 by Nevada’s Clark County, which is home to many casinos and the Las Vegas Convention Centre. Boring said at the time it would have 51 stations on 29 miles of tunnels and be able to move up to 57,000 passengers an hour. 

—Clark County Nevada (@ClarkCountyNV)
October 20, 2021

The document obtained by TechCrunch showed that the proposed expansion of the project would result in a further 18 stations than first mooted.

The proposal includes the first stations in residential areas, per the report. It would also allow commuters to reach more casinos, shopping areas, and the University of Nevada Las Vegas. 

The expansion is mostly in the jurisdiction of the City of Las Vegas, and one of its engineers has rejected the Boring Company’s initial structural designs for its tunnels, according to TechCrunch.

Only buildings six levels high could be constructed above the tunnels, which the engineer said was “NOT acceptable,” per the report. Concerns about tunnels running near the foundations of the Strat tower and the possibility of lithium-ion battery fires were also raised.

Musk had aimed to use self-driving Teslas in the tunnels, but TechCrunch reported that there’s no mention of autonomous vehicles in the expansion proposal. 

The Boring Company said on March 14 it had transported its millionth passenger. The existing Loop has five stations and uses about 70 Teslas. It took almost three years to build. 

—The Boring Company (@boringcompany)
March 14, 2023

Critics have called the Loop a less efficient version of a subway and testers pointed to inefficiencies as they waited for cars to arrive at the stations.

The City of Las Vegas did not comment to TechCrunch other than to say that no construction had begun.

The City and the Boring Company didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment from Insider.