It’s not just Teslas driving through Elon Musk’s tunnel beneath the Las Vegas Convention Center, with passengers as drivers, as part of a public transportation experiment that began in 2021.
A skateboarder entered the tunnel through one of the installed passenger pick-up stations, forcing staff to briefly instruct drivers to wait while the intruder was ejected.
Someone else entered from another station while the transit was not running and began taking photos underground until security arrived.
Additionally, unauthorized vehicles have repeatedly tailgated Teslas into tunnel stations, sometimes before the automatic security gates had closed.
Encroachment into the tunnel system has become a headache for the Boring Company, which built and operates the 3.4-mile underground road network known as the Loop. People break the rules and go places they shouldn’t go, forcing companies and convention centers to intervene and kick them out.
There have been at least 67 break-ins since 2022. The Boring Company reports that 22 vehicles have followed Teslas into stations and tunnels since early last year. luck Obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Boring’s monthly reports to the agency identify problems such as property damage, theft, technical problems, injuries, near misses, and break-ins and break-ins. As for the trespassing, it briefly describes what happened, including a vehicle following a Tesla and entering, and a technician on staff escorting the unauthorized vehicle. The disclosure does not say whether the trespassers were trying to avoid capture or why they were on the property. Although some accidents are accidental, many of them occur at above-ground stations or inside buildings, and not necessarily inside tunnels.
A Games and Tourism Authority spokeswoman said all the cars that slid into the grounds were “inadvertent”. The company’s drivers followed Boring’s vehicle “believing it was accessing a rideshare pickup spot or entrance to the parking lot,” but were quickly forced out. A spokesperson said only one such incident “led to a tunnel entry.”
To avoid problems, authorities and the Boring Company have introduced a license plate reading system that automatically closes the tunnel gates if it does not recognize the license plate of a car entering an above-ground station. Authorities also said they were “actively cooperating.” [the Boring Company] This is to eliminate opportunities for inadvertent intrusion. ”
The records provided do not say whether Boring Company reported the trespass to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. contact address lucka police spokesperson said the agency was not aware of any incidents to which officers were dispatched.
The Boring Company did not respond to requests for comment for this article.
This tunnel system is very different from the lofty, fast, autonomous Hyperloop system that Musk originally wanted to build with his tunneling business. Musk envisioned a science fiction system for cities around the world that would launch pods of passengers through subways at hundreds of miles per hour.
But while Boring continues to develop new types of tunnel boring machines, it has not yet developed a hyperloop or new transportation technology. Instead, Boring built the only operational transportation system in Las Vegas. The system uses low-tech, human-powered Teslas to transport passengers underground without creating traffic jams on surface roads. Boling has talked with officials about tunnel projects in a number of other cities, including Baltimore and Chicago, but those have all come to nothing, and Bowling is now focusing all of its attention on the Las Vegas project.
Behind the scenes, former employees who dug the first tunnel in Las Vegas have raised serious concerns about safety during excavation, leaving dozens of people injured as the company rushes to expand the system. There is. luck It was reported earlier this year. In one incident, a boring worker dug so close to a Las Vegas monorail pillar that convention center officials had to temporarily shut down the monorail while they determined whether the pillar had become unstable.
Boring currently employs about 204 drivers who shuttle passengers in various Tesla models below the convention center, according to June records. According to the Convention and Visitors Authority, more than 2 million passengers have used the system from its opening date in June 2021 to November 2023, and the agency reports high customer satisfaction scores.
The report said there were relatively few problems caused by ordinary passengers. That includes occasional rowdy behavior and someone banging their head on the trunk of a Tesla while going to retrieve their luggage.
Currently, the tunnel transportation system is only open to conference attendees and is not open to the public. Boring has begun opening and operating stations outside of the convention center’s jurisdiction, but these routes are still connected to the existing tunnel system and are not free, but tolled. The company is working to get permission from the city of Las Vegas to begin construction of 100 miles of tunnels beneath the city and in other areas of the county, including the airport.
The system Boling built in Las Vegas – a small tunnel with funky pink, blue and green lighting – still caught the attention of the public. This includes people who should not be included.
In one case, two people were found sleeping in one of the tunnel stations near the convention center parking lot. They were eventually escorted off the premises by Bowling security. In another incident, a man tried to remove a license plate reader at one of the bowling stations, and convention center security also escorted the man off the premises.
Always follow the rules when riding the loop. Passenger has conference participant credentials. And it is prohibited to skateboard or wander through the tunnels alone.
Do you have any insights to share? Do you have any tips? Contact Jessica Mathews at jessica.mathews@fortune.com or through the secure messaging app Signal at 479-715-9553.
In-depth coverage of Boring Co by Fortune.:
– ‘We’ve always played with death’: Elon Musk wanted a boring company to build a tunnel system under Las Vegas. Former employees say they feared for their lives while working there.
– Last year, an employee at Elon Musk’s boring company accidentally drilled too close to a Las Vegas monorail pillar, forcing authorities to suspend service.
data sheet: Stay on top of the latest in the business of technology with thoughtful analysis of the industry’s biggest companies.
Sign up here.
#Elon #Musks #Las #Vegas #subway #system #attracts #escort #trespassers #deranged #drivers