The Boring Company

The Boring Company (TBC) is an American infrastructure, tunnel construction service, and equipment company founded by Elon Musk. TBC was founded as a subsidiary of SpaceX in 2017, and was spun off as a separate corporation in 2018. TBC has completed multiple test tunnels and one tunneling project that is open to the public. In 2018, TBC completed one test tunnel in Los Angeles County, California. In 2021, TBC completed the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) Loop, a three-station transportation system with 1.7 miles (2.7 km) of tunnels. As of April 2024, a segment to Resorts World Las Vegas is also open, and tunnels to Encore and Westgate resorts are being finalized. The system is planned to expand to a total of 68 miles (109 km) of tunnels. In October 2025, TBC began trialing self-driving vehicles with a safety driver on one section of the Las Vegas Loop. Many other TBC projects in cities across the United States were announced, but subsequently became inactive or were canceled.

History

Musk announced the idea of the Boring Company in December 2016, and it was officially registered as "TBC – The Boring Company" on January 11, 2017. Musk cited difficulty with Los Angeles traffic, and what he sees as limitations of its two-dimensional transportation network, as his early inspiration for the project. The Boring Company was formed as a SpaceX subsidiary. According to Musk, the company's goal is to enhance tunneling speed enough such that establishing a tunnel network is financially feasible. In early 2018, the Boring Company was spun out from SpaceX and into a separate corporate entity. Early employees came from a variety of backgrounds, including those from SpaceX. The company completed several tests in Hawthorne, California and showcased a test tunnel on December 18, 2018. After raising US$113 million from Musk himself, supplemented by TBC merchandise sales during 2018, the Boring Company sold $120 million in stock to venture capital firms in July 2019. By November 2019, Steve Davis had become company president after leading efforts for Musk since 2016. Davis was one of the earliest hires at SpaceX (in 2003) and has master's degrees in particle physics and aerospace engineering, as well as degrees in finance and mechanical engineering. In November 2020, TBC announced hiring for positions in Austin, Texas, and by December 2020 had leased two buildings in a 14-acre (5.7 ha) industrial complex northeast of Austin, approximately 16 miles (26 km) north of Texas Gigafactory. On April 20, 2022, the company announced an additional $675 million Series C funding round, valuing the company at approximately $5.675 billion. The round was led by Vy Capital and Sequoia Capital, with participation from Valor Equity Partners, Founders Fund, 8VC, Craft Ventures, and DFJ Growth. In 2022, the company was cited by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for five violations of Texas environmental regulations. Sometime before April 2023, the company moved their headquarters and engineering facilities to Bastrop, Texas, approximately 25 miles (40 km) east of Texas Gigafactory. Musk has previously addressed the question of whether the company would use its technology to build a base on Mars to avoid radiation. While SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell stated that such an application could be a good idea, Musk also has suggested that the company's tunneling technology could potentially be used in the development of future settlements on Mars.

Promotion

Merchandise In 2018, the company began offering 20,000 "flamethrowers" for preordering. The "flamethrower" was a blow torch shaped to look like a gun and is legal in all U.S. states except Maryland. All 20,000 "flamethrowers" were sold in just a few days. After customs officials said that they would not allow imports of any items called "flamethrowers", Musk announced that he would rename them to "Not-A-Flamethrower" since the devices were in fact akin to roofing torches. Musk announced separate sales of a fire extinguisher, which he described as "overpriced... but this one comes with a cool sticker".

Not-a-Boring Competition In 2020, TBC released rules for a student tunnel-boring competition. The first competition was held in Las Vegas in September 2021. Officially named the Not-a-Boring Competition, the challenge was to "quickly and accurately drill a tunnel that was 30 m-long (98 ft) and 30 cm-wide (0.98 ft)". Applications were received from 400 potential participants. A technical design review left 12 teams that were invited to Las Vegas to demonstrate their engineering solution in a September 2021 competition. The winning team was TUM Boring from Technical University of Munich who managed to excavate a 22 m (72 ft) bore while meeting the requisite safety requirements. TUM Boring used a conventional pipe jacking method to build the tunnel, but employed a novel revolving pipe storage design to minimize downtime between pipe segments. A second competition was held in April 2023. New contest criteria required a 30 m (98 ft)-long 500 mm (20 in)-diameter, this time with a turn radius. Five teams from four countries—the United States, Germany, United Kingdom, and Switzerland—made the finals and journeyed to Texas to compete. TUM Boring again won with a design that reached a maximum velocity of 7 mm/s (0.28 in/s). Swissloop Tunneling finished second overall and won the innovation award.

Machines

Godot TBC's first boring machine was Godot, a conventional tunnel boring machine (TBM) made by Lovat.

Prufrock Godot was followed by Prufrock. It introduced the principle of onsite upgrades.

Prufrock MB1 Prufrock medium bore 1 (MB1) introduced porpoising, continuous mining, rapid iteration, and remote operation (termed "zero people in tunnel" (ZPIT)). It was the first TBC machine to tunnel through rock (limestone). Its cutter head featured 15.5-inch disc cutters.

Prufrock MB2 The company said in 2022 that the goal of MB2 was to dig up to a mile per week, which is six times faster than Godot. Compared to MB1, it offered 15% higher power and 1.5-inch larger disc cutters (which were 17-inch). Prufrock-MB2 arrived in Nashville, Tennessee, in April 2026 and completed testing in June 2026.

Prufrock MB3 The company said in 2022 that the goal of MB3 was to dig up to seven miles per day. As of June 2026, MB3 is being built and specifications are not available.

Liner Truck 3 Liner Truck 3 was introduced in 2026 and transports liner segments from the surface to the TBM. It is remotely piloted and has a low profile to allow it to drive under the conveyor belt. It has a range of 28 miles and can carry 22 tons of concrete liner segments at once.

Process

Porpoising The goal is to replace tunnel entry and exit excavations by having the TBM "porpoise" in and out of the ground. The TBM is trucked in and placed at an angle to the ground. (Prufrock 2 and 3 required an earthen ramp to set it at the correct angle before beginning to tunnel). It then bores into the ground and changes angles as it continues boring, eventually returning to the surface and being loaded onto the truck. In conventional systems, one large excavation is made at the tunnel entrance to allow the TBM to be lowered to the tunnel depth and assembled. A similar excavation is made at the tunnel exit to allow the TBM to be disassembled and lifted out.

Tunnel lining TBC lines its tunnels with hexagonal concrete segments. It installs the segments via an electric, autonomous, process. Segments arrive in the tunnel via an electric wheeled liner truck powered by motors and batteries from Tesla.

Continuous tunneling TBC is working to install ring liners without stopping tunneling. Conventional systems stop every five feet or so to install another segment of the tunnel lining, and to extend the rail line. The goal is to increase tunneling time per day from 11 hours to 24 hours.

Muck removal An electrically-powered conveyor belt (Vertical Cassette, or VC) is used to transport excavated material ("muck") out of the tunnel. The conveyor belt is positioned at the top of the tunnel and is attached to the concrete lining segments. VC7 can extract 990 tons/hour at 50% capacity, supporting a 4 mile/week tunneling speed. The belt travels 660 ft/minute. VC7 can handle curves with radius as small as 500 ft. Individual units can be chained together every 1.5 miles to support long tunnels. VCs co-operate in a tunnel with the liner truck.

Active projects

Hawthorne test tunnel

Vegas Loop

Dubai Loop

Music City Loop

Inactive and cancelled projects

United States

Washington, DC to Baltimore, Maryland In 2017, Musk announced plans to build a Hyperloop connecting Washington, DC to Baltimore. This was supplanted in 2018 by a proposal to build a route following the Baltimore–Washington Parkway. The Maryland Transportation Authority officially approved the project. In 2019, a draft Environmental Assessment for the project was completed. As of 2021, the project was no longer listed on the company website, the federal government had received no indication the company wanted to move forward, TBC dropped a Maryland lobbyist it had hired for the project, and the company declined to comment on the project.

Chicago, Illinois In 2018, the company won a bid to build a high-speed link from downtown Chicago to O'Hare Airport, to be known as the Chicago Express Loop. As of 2021, the plan had been dropped.

Los Angeles, California In 2018, TBC proposed to develop a 2.7-mile-long (4.3 km) test tunnel on a north–south alignment parallel to Interstate 405 and adjacent to Sepulveda Boulevard. Public opposition and lawsuits led the company to abandon the idea. Also in 2018, the company proposed to build a 3.6-mile (5.8 km) tunnel called the "Dugout Loop" from Vermont Avenue to Dodger Stadium. As of June 2021, the project had been removed from TBC's website.

San Jose, California In 2019, a link between San Jose International Airport and Diridon station, was discussed as an alternative to an $800 million traditional rail link. Plans were later dropped.

San Bernardino County, California In February 2021, the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority (SBCTA) in California approved beginning contract negotiations with TBC to build a nearly 4-mile (6.4 km) tunnel connecting the Ontario airport with the Rancho Cucamonga Metrolink/Future Brightline West train station. However, TBC did not submit a proposal after a third party was involved to study the project impacts. As of 2022, the SBCTA has plans to build the tunnel system using "another company more familiar with the state's bureaucracy to do the Environmental Impact Report".

Fort Lauderdale, Florida In July 2021, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, accepted a proposal from the Boring Company for a tunnel between downtown and the beach, to be dubbed the "Las Olas Loop". In August 2021, the city was beginning final negotiations with TBC, and Mayor Dean Trantalis estimated the total cost of the 5-mile (8.0 km) round-trip tunnel would be between $90 and $100 million, including stations. As of December 2022, the city suspended efforts to continue the project.

San Antonio, Texas Bexar County selected The Boring Company to build a transit link between downtown San Antonio, Texas and San Antonio International Airport in March 2022, but was then "ghosted" by the company.

Miami, Florida In February 2021, Miami mayor Francis Suarez revealed that Musk had proposed to dig a two-mile tunnel under the Miami River for $30 million, within a six-month timescale, compared with $1 billion over four years estimated by the local transit authority. Much of the savings would be achieved by simplifying ventilation systems and allowing only electric vehicles. As of November 2023, the city is waiting for the Miami Dade Transportation Planning Organization to complete an analysis of the project.

Cameron County, Texas In August 2021, a preliminary concept discussion was held with officials of Cameron County on the potential construction of a tunnel from South Padre Island to Boca Chica Beach in South Texas. If built, the tunnel would be required to pass beneath the Brownsville Ship Channel. It would allow SpaceX's facilities at Starbase to remain accessible if Highway 4, its sole access road, was closed.

Australia

Blue Mountains In January 2019, Musk responded to a tweet by an Australian member of parliament regarding a tunnel through the Blue Mountains to the west of Sydney, suggesting costs of $750 million for a 31-mile (50 km) tunnel, plus $50 million per station. New South Wales' transportation department found that based on the cost of the Hawthorne tunnel, the estimated cost would be closer to $6 billion.

Criticism Civil engineering experts and tunneling industry veterans questioned whether TBC could render tunnels faster and cheaper than competitors. Tunnelling Journal dismissed the company as a "vanity project". The low capacity of TBC tunnels make them inefficient compared to existing public transit, with only a fraction of the capacity of a conventional rapid-transit subway. Musk's planned tunnels were criticized for lacking such safety features as emergency exit corridors, ventilation systems, or fire suppression. In addition, the single lane tunnels left it impossible for vehicles to pass one another in the event of collision, mechanical failure, or other traffic obstruction, and instead would shut down the entire tunnel section. James Moore, director of transportation engineering at the University of Southern California, said that "there are cheaper ways to provide better transportation for large numbers of people", such as managing traffic with tolls. Public transit consultant Jarrett Walker called TBC "wildly hyped", and criticized how the company "dazzled city governments and investors with visions of an efficient subway where you never have to get out of your car, [but turned] out to be a paved road tunnel".

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