Elon Musk isn't the kind of man who expects around a problem to resolve itself.
After being stuck in traffic in December, the billionaire came with a plan to create a giant Los Angeles tunnel to ease congestion.
"Traffic is driving me crazy." I'll build a tunnel boring machine and just start digging... ", he tweeted.
And that he was not joking.
Musk has now tweeted a picture of what appears to be a tunnel boring machine (TBM), which many believe will do exactly that - and his SpaceX company has started a wide trench near its headquarters in Hawthorne to test the machine.
Elon Musk's plan to tackle traffic using a huge tunnel boring machine (TBM) appears to be in full swing. The billionaire SpaceX and PayPal founder tweeted this photo showing the rear of a TBM, with the excavating conveyor belt which removes the debris from the site clearly visible in the bottom centre of the image. Musk has yet to confirm, however, whether the image of the tunnel boring machine he tweeted is his own, or what its exact purpose.
He posted the photo with the caption 'Minecraft' - a reference to the popular video game in which players dig networks large tunnel for resources.
When musk first announced its intention to drill a tunnel for its offices of SpaceX in Los Angeles, it was hard to know if he escaped all just frustrations being stuck in traffic.
But he ended his rant on Twitter with: "I'll actually do."
Musk is yet to confirm, however, if the image of the TBM that he tweeted is its own or its exact function.
The contractor has a strong history of getting ideas out of the ground.
Musk started two transport related companies - Tesla for electric cars and SpaceX to launch into space.
It has also begun the Hyperloop develop, a proposed method of travel that would transport people to 745 mph (1, 200 km/h) between remote locations.
And it seems that musk tunnelling work has already begun.
Excavators working for the entrepreneur have already dug a test trench at SpaceX's headquarters in Hawthorne, Los Angeles, Wired reported last week.
The trench reportedly measures 30 feet (9 metres) wide, 50 feet (15 metres) long, and 15 feet (4.5 metres) deep.
Elon Musk may have dreamt up his latest world-changing technology while stuck in heavy traffic. The SpaceX and PayPal founder tweeted about starting a company to make tunneling equipment to dig tunnels that will relieve traffic
The hole is legal because it has been dug on private property.
But extending the tunnel further than SpaceX's headquarters would require more discussion, paperwork, and LA City council approval.
HOW TUNNEL BORING MACHINES WORK
They can drill through a variety of materials including sand, earth and even solid rock.
Soil and rock chips are captured and taken to an excavating conveyor belt
which removes the debris from the site
Each machine is fronted by a 'cutterhead' - a huge, circular metal face interspersed with sharp discs.
The cutterhead is forced under immense pressure against soil or rock using a powerful hydraulics system to tear away at the material.
The loose 'chips' that are created from this process fall into large 'bucket lips' which are openings in the cutterhead that feed the material through to an excavating conveyor belt.
The conveyor belt extends backwards through the machine and takes the debris to a back-up area where it can be extracted to the surface.
Tunnel boring machines can be used to create tunnels for underground roads or railway lines
"We will just have to understand what it takes to improve speed tunneling by, I think, somewhere between 500 and 1,000 percent," he said at a design competition for Hyperloop SpaceX earlier this month.
The technology giant has proposed a slogan for the company in its chain of December tweets:
"Boring, it is what we do."
"If you think that tunnels from 10, 20, 30 deep layers (or more), it is obvious that down 3D will focus on the transport needs of all city of arbitrary size,' said he Wired the week last in a direct message Twitter."
"You have high-rise buildings, they are all the 3D and then everyonewants to get into the building and leave the building at the same time," he said Sunday.
"On a 2D road network, which of course does not work, you have to run 3D upwards or downwards. And I think that probably down. »
But musk has before it an uphill battle if it is serious about tunnellingunder the.
Dig beneath cities takes a long time because the dense Earth and theunderground rock is poorly charted.
"Our recent experience with tunnels in the United States is that neighbors worry, encountering various laws on the environment, and younever know what lies beneath the Earth," Michael Manville, who is studying urban planning at the University of California, Los Angeles, told Wired.
Drilling technology has become much cheaper in recent years thanks to rapid advances in the technology of tunneling.
Herrenknecht AG, one of the manufacturers in the world largest tunnel-boring machine, says it provides machines for as much as 100 projects per year, compared to 20 some 15 years ago.
"
The ability to deliver a tunnel in the time and the budget has changed a lot... and really pushed the industry," said Achim Kuhn, a spokesman for the German company, whose tunnel-boring machines can cost more than £40 million / $50 million each.
Several drilling technologies have been designed in order to explorethe Moon or Mars for their wealth of raw materials.
For example, a company called Zaptec came up with a new type of plasma drilling technology that could make drilling on the Moon, the asteroids or the more affordable March.
Dig beneath cities takes a long time because the dense Earth and theunderground rock is poorly charted.
"Our recent experience with tunnels in the United States is that neighbors worry, encountering various laws on the environment, and younever know what lies beneath the Earth," Michael Manville, who is studying urban planning at the University of California, Los Angeles, told Wired.
Drilling technology has become much cheaper in recent years thanks to rapid advances in the technology of tunneling.
Herrenknecht AG, one of the manufacturers in the world largest tunnel-boring machine, says it provides machines for as much as 100 projects per year, compared to 20 some 15 years ago.
"
The ability to deliver a tunnel in the time and the budget has changed a lot... and really pushed the industry," said Achim Kuhn, a spokesman for the German company, whose tunnel-boring machines can cost more than £40 million / $50 million each.
Several drilling technologies have been designed in order to explorethe Moon or Mars for their wealth of raw materials.
For example, a company called Zaptec came up with a new type of plasma drilling technology that could make drilling on the Moon, the asteroids or the more affordable March.
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