Featured Image Source: Las Vegas Convention Center

The Boring Company is building a set of underground high-speed transportation tunnels in Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC), referred to as Loop. The founder of the company, Elon Musk, envisions a future where cities are connected by a network of underground tunnels featuring electric vehicles cruising though routes at hypersonic speeds leading directly to destinations without stops. The Las Vegas $52.5 million LVCC project, is a Loop system with two 1-mile long tunnels adjacent to each other, that will connect the New Exhibit Hall [West Hall] building to the South and North/Central Hall. Typical walk time between those two locations is 15 minutes, the Loop system will enable rapid 90-second arrival between those two destinations. The company may expand these first tunnels into an underground network that could “one day connect the Convention Center with locations across the Las Vegas Valley,” the city website’s states. “The potential for this technology and this loop system to go valley-wide is there. And that's why everyone has their eyes on the convention authority right now, to see if this demonstration project can do what it said it can,” says county commissioner and Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority Board chair Larry Brown.

The LVCC Loop system will use Autonomous Electric Vehicles (AEV), these zero-emissions vehicles are modified Tesla cars and ‘vans’ that will transport passengers underground at up to 150 miles per hour. AEVs are made up of the Tesla Model S, Tesla Model 3, and Tesla Model X. – “We’re developing the Convention Center Loop, a revolutionary underground transportation system which will serve the entire 200-acre Las Vegas Convention Center District campus, allowing convention attendees to be whisked across the campus in just over one minute, free of charge, in all-electric Tesla vehicles,” city representatives stated. “Set for completion at the end of 2020, the underground transportation system is set to open with the Las Vegas Convention Center Partnership with McCarran International Airport. […] We’re continuing to stay engaged with important air service development issues and host airline and travel conferences that position Las Vegas as a premier travel destination.”

The Las Vegas Convention Center released a new render of The Boring Company’s Loop transportation system that is currently under construction. The render shows an AEV ‘van’ that features row of seats and glass windows all around, which will be capable of carrying more passengers in its interior, pictured below. Previously, these pods were designed for 12 passengers that could ride standing up; Musk was recently asked if the pods will have standing room – “No, best to have people seated for safety and speed of travel,” he said. So, the ‘van’ was redesigned to feature seats for 12 passengers, and will also allow them to carry their luggage. City officials said the van could add the Loop system capacity to transport up to 1,200 people per day, or 10 million per year.

The LVCC project is expected to be completed by the end of this year and ready for operation by January 2021. The City of Las Vegas aims to welcome the CES 2021 technology conference by inaugurating The Boring Company's Loop transportation system.