Elon Musk discusses underground 3D tunnel system, a Tesla Semi and Hyperloop

Elon Musk had a forty minute chat with TED’s Head Curator, Chris Anderson on many of his projects, including the Boring company, Tesla, SpaceX, Hyperloop and SolarCity. Musk referred to two of these visionary projects as “hobbies”. The Boring Company is being run by part time workers and interns, while Hyperloop is a testbed to encourage new and innovative transportation solutions.

My boring TED talkhttps://t.co/QNgolyJXMr

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 1, 2017

At a time when there is an increasing interest in flying cars , Musk wants to go the other way, and take the entire multi tier network underground. Musk’s newest project,  The Boring company is being tasked with doing just that. Musk wants to build a high speed, three dimensional network of underground tunnels, and according to Musk, such a network could scale to accommodate any arbitrary increase in the volume of congestion.

Musk pointed out that the deepest mines were deeper than the heights of the tallest buildings. An underground network of tunnels could easily swallow up any amount of escalation in traffic congestion. Musk suggested concrete steps to make the boring cheaper, including reducing the diameter of the tunnels, improving the efficiency of the boring machines, and building a machine that continuously digs and reinforce the tunnel walls at the same time.

Having a number of cars flying overhead is not a really comforting situation, according to Musk, and it does nothing to reduce the anxiety. If someone has not fixed their hubcap properly for example, it can fly down and seriously hurt someone. A network of underground tunnels would have lifts to the surface, integrate with the roadways in the city, and the cars could move in excess of 200 kilometers per hour on automated pods in the tunnels.

In Musk’s vision for self driving cars, it will be possible in two years to get into a vehicle, set a destination, and fall off to sleep. Musk said that the technology can never be entirely accident free, but if there is only one accident in a hundred life times, then people might feel comfortable falling off to sleep. Autonomous vehicles can certainly mitigate damage during accidents, and Musk said that it was enough to make autonomous vehicles safer than human drivers.

Musk for the first time showed an image of a working prototype of an electric Semi truck. The vehicle apparently generates so much torque, that it can pull a diesel Semi uphill in a tug of war. There is no gear system, and Musk says the truck is easy to handle, based on a test drive in the parking lot of Tesla.

Musk then showed his vision for a typical American house, with powerwalls on the outside, solar panels that blend with the architecture, and an electric car parked in the highway. Musk said that most houses will have a solar roof in around forty of fifty years, and in fifteen years, it will be unusual to have a roof that is not solar.

The solar panels were introduced last year by Musk , and comes in different patterns that are indistinguishable from regular tiles from street level. Musk hopes that the creation of solar panels that are not jarring in their environment will boost the adoption of solar energy for domestic purposes.

Musk said that he wants to see the first Mars colony trips starting in eight to ten years time. Musk sees a future where there are truly enormous spaceships. When Musk was asked why he wants to colonise Mars, Musk replied that the future of humanity is to be out there in the stars, and be an interplanetary species as the alternative was depressing.

Watch the entire forty minute interview on the TED website .