Elon Musk’s Boring Company plans tunnel from LA to Dodgers Stadium, and timing of news is curious

Mark Brake / Getty Images

• Elon Musk has been under fire lately as many have
  questioned the overall health of Tesla, which has been recently
  scrutinized over its finances, workplace conditions, and
  treatment of employees.
• Reports this week have said the SEC may be looking into
  Tesla.
• On Wednesday, the focus shifted to a different Elon
  Musk company, The Boring Company, which announced plans to
  build a tunnel that could transport people from downtown Los
  Angeles to Dodgers Stadium in just four minutes.
• It’s been a rough week for Musk and Tesla, so it’s easy
  to see why Musk would welcome a news cycle that wasn’t centered
  around Tesla.

Elon Musk’s Boring Company, founded in late 2016, has only
sold merchandise so
far. But this week, it announced
plans to build a 3-mile tunnel that could transport people in
Los Angeles to Dodgers Stadium in just four minutes.

The Boring Company says its new tunnel to Dodger Stadium will be
the first public operational version of its transportation
system, which can carry 8 to 16 people on “electric skates” that
can travel anywhere between 125 and 150 miles per hour. You can
learn more about The Boring Company’s “Dugout Loop” on its website.

The Boring Company currently lists four projects in the works,
including the Dugout Loop, a test tunnel in Hawthorne,
California, the “Chicago Express Loop” that connects O’Hare
Airport with downtown Chicago, and a proposed loop to connect
Washington D.C. and Maryland.

The timing of the announcement is curious, to say the least

Elon Musk has needed some good press after what has been a rough
week for the billionaire tech CEO.

Last week,
Musk tweeted plans to take his electric-car company Tesla
private. He even said funding was “secured.”
But over the weekend, rapper Azealia Banks — who said she was
staying at Elon Musk’s house that weekend with her friend, the
artist Grimes, who is dating Musk —
claimed that Musk was “in the kitchen tucking his tail in
between his legs scrounging for investors to cover his ass after
that tweet.”

Tesla and Musk have
denied Banks’ claims, calling them “utter nonsense.” But
Musk’s tweet about securing funding has attracted the attention
of the Securities and Exchange Commission, which has reportedly

sent subpoenas to Tesla this week about the company’s plans
to go private.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the SEC wants to know
whether Musk’s tweets about taking Tesla private were truthful.

On Wednesday night,
Tesla whistleblower Martin Tripp shared images and
photos that allegedly came from inside the company. The images
claimed to show vehicle identification numbers of Tesla cars that
contained allegedly damaged batteries, and trailers full of
battery waste that were being stored improperly. Tesla says
Tripp’s claims and photos are categorically false, but between
the SEC probe and the whistleblower’s claims that Tesla was
handling waste and safety protocols improperly, it’s easy to see
why Musk would welcome a news cycle that wasn’t centered around
Tesla.

It’s been a tough year for Elon Musk,
who even teared up at a Tesla shareholder meeting a couple of
months ago after months of questions about Tesla’s finances and
production goals, saying it had been “the most excruciating,
hellish several months I’ve maybe ever had.”

The headlines surrounding Musk and Tesla have been more negative
than positive lately, as investors, shareholders, and others have
looked for answers to the numerous questions that have come up.
Clearly, people have a lot of questions about Musk’s plans for
Tesla. But there’s a good chance that’s why we’re hearing about
The Boring Company right now: It’s a newer company built on an
exciting and futuristic premise, with not nearly as much baggage
accumulated compared to Tesla.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti approves: