I work in a related industry. The article makes good points about the cost of tunneling and I think the boring company has some great ideas. That said: * It's

I work in a related industry. The article makes good points about the cost of tunneling and I think the boring company has some great ideas. That said: * It's incorrect to think that there's nothing underground and this space is empty especially in urban areas. In Manhattan it's extremely difficult to find locations for new tunnels with the existing subway system, buildings, water supply, storm drains, power, things that aren't even on a map. Yes you could go deeper and deeper at great expense, but you still at some point need to tunnel to the surface. * The proposal is to start the tunnel from the surface instead of from an open pit. Why are open pits needed for projects like the Purple Line in LA? Because even getting that pit built and opened is a major project, and you simply can't start it a thousand feet to the east, north, south, or west. The idea of not drilling in a pit is great if you can do it, but you can't ignore the advantages of drilling in a pit. * Tunneling with a surface level entrance needed for cars will take more above ground infrastructure than a subway entrance. Once more, you'll need to allow cars to exit, so this will be repeated all along the tunnel. Subway stations are expensive, but the alternative is dismantling skyscrapers. It could be argued that all roads should be moved underground, Boston big-dig style, to free up space, but if you do that, you're spending lots of money on the surface as well. * Tunnels need to stay dry and they can't make extreme angles and turns. * Tunnels need to allow for evacuation and ventilation for the possibility of a fire. You can't get away from this with EVs. * The "only" advantage of trains is not their low rolling resistance. The air resistance per passenger is also obviously much lower. You also reduce the amount of air and space between vehicles which increases your passenger capacity in terms of passengers per hour that can be carried in your tunnel during rush hour. Contrary to popular belief the space between cars cannot go away with FSD - the cars still need a safety margin to provide a safe braking distance from the car ahead. * In terms of safety, trains are much safer than automobiles per passenger mile traveled. It hardly even shows up in 2019 and they're only getting safer. https://injuryfacts.nsc.org/home-and-community/safety-topics/deaths-by-transportation-mode/ https://injuryfacts.nsc.org/home-and-community/safety-topics... * Trains have many downsides, but they're mostly related to being constrained to a fixed infrastructure. By putting cars in a tunnel you get many of the same downsides - freedom to change route, reverse, skip locations, avoid obstacles, etc. In terms of future far-out infrastructure, I'd argue that "flying cars"/VTOL are a more likely solution that tunnels everywhere full of automobiles.