With the “Loop” under Las Vegas: The solution to all traffic jam problems?

In Las Vegas, a company owned by Elon Musk is testing an idea to relieve congested inner cities: driving a car in its own tunnel system. A test drive awakened associations with a system that already exists.

It goes down twelve meters into a hall with nine parking spaces. Underneath the Las Vegas Convention Center, the colors pink, green and blue dominate: the light comes from neon tubes that change colour.

Elon Musk’s company The Boring Company wants to present their vision of an alternative transport system here underground, the mood is good and it looks more like an amusement park than public transport.

Tunnel full of Teslas

Teslas are constantly driving in and out. Yellow vest marshals give directions and direct the reporter to parking lot number five. There’s already a car there. Four passengers and one driver fit into one car. Close the door, buckle up, and off we go.

Tanya Bourne, the driver, steers the car into the tunnel. The speed today is a maximum of 50 kilometers per hour, sometimes 60, she says – it’s not difficult to drive.

Three stops so far

So far there have been three stops under the exhibition grounds, the white tunnels are currently around 2.5 kilometers long. Colorful lights create impressions like something out of a space film.

Emergency exits cannot be found at first glance – but there are supposed to be some, at least that’s what The Boring Company writes on their website. If a fire breaks out, the smoke can be drawn off via a ventilation system, then people could be taken out of the tunnel.

System is to be 20 times larger

The two and a half kilometers of tunnel so far are said to have cost more than 52 million dollars. The city wants to expand the system to around 50 kilometers.

All 70 shuttle cars have a driver, autonomous driving does not yet exist here. But that’s the plan, Bourne assures. There was also a successful test in the tunnels in November – but they are not ready yet: “The cars do not always recognize the stations or all the people.”

“That’s called the subway”

After two minutes, the ride is over. Tanya Bourne thanks the passengers – who take different impressions with them. One is happy that this method of transport saves 20 minutes of walking.

Another passenger found the ride “confusing” – and felt “like in a wormhole”. You do not know whether this investment is worthwhile.

Finally, Lennart Haller from Munich had “imagined the trip to be a bit more exciting”. Such a system is unimaginable for him in Germany. It makes sense to have “large vehicles that many people can fit in – and that’s called the subway”.