A Tesla electric vehicle is in operation at the Vegas Loop at the Las Vegas Convention Center on the 3rd (local time). Video = Reporter Nojeong-dong Hankyung.com [email protected]
In front of the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, where ‘CES 2022’, the world’s largest electronic and information technology (IT) exhibition, will be held on the 3rd (local time).
When I went down to the ‘Vegas Loop Station’ in front of the Central Hall, one of the main exhibition halls of the convention center, regarding 10 Tesla Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) ‘Model Y’ were waiting side by side in the parking area.
On the left is the Central Station parking lot. Photo = Reporter Nojeong-dong Hankyung.com [email protected]
When a reporter in a waiting car asked to go to another exhibition hall, West Hall, the vehicle started, and soon following, a ‘Loop’ that looked like a small tunnel appeared.
The vehicle sprinted along the loop and following a short time arrived at West Station where the West Hall is located. Running time is regarding 1 minute 30 seconds. The top speed was around 60 km/h. When the reporter said, “The speed is slower than I thought,” the driver replied, “It is because the tunnel length is short.” When asked regarding the cost, the answer was, “It’s free for visitors during this exhibition.”
CES (Consumer Technology Association), the organizer of CES, and the Boring Company, a tunnel excavation company run by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, are operating the ‘Vegas Loop’ that connects the large convention center with an underground tunnel during the exhibition period. With this loop, visitors can walk a 15-minute walk in less than two minutes.
A Tesla electric vehicle is in operation at the Vegas Loop at the Las Vegas Convention Center on the 3rd (local time). Video = Reporter Nojeong-dong Hankyung.com [email protected]
Tunnel excavation for the Vegas Loop in Las Vegas was completed last year. It consists of two one-way tunnels with a length of 1.37 km each way. The new exhibition hall built this year and the three existing exhibition halls will be connected. The depth is 12 m. Unlike conventional excavation that uses explosives, a tunnel was created by breaking the ground with a rotary circular cutter. It is the technology of the Boring Company.
‘Loop’ is an ambitious work presented by Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, to alleviate traffic jams in downtown US. Musk tweeted in 2016 that he was “digging an underground tunnel to solve a traffic jam in Los Angeles,” and actually started operation in 2018. A concept closer to an underground highway than a subway. When Musk first unveiled the concept of the loop in 2013, some depreciated it as “Musk’s delusion.”
The entrance to Vegas Loop Central Station is on the right. Photo = Reporter Nojeong-dong Hankyung.com [email protected]
If you look at the design drawings of the roof that were released by foreign media, it is a structure in which a railway that can supply electricity is laid in the tunnel, and the vehicle runs on it at high speed. Tesla electric vehicles are also designed to use the tunnel. Ultimately, the goal is to operate Tesla self-driving cars.
Musk is also developing a ‘hyperroof’ system suitable for long-distance travel, unlike the ‘roof’ for urban use. Hyperloop creates a vacuum in the tunnel to remove air resistance, and then uses a magnetic field to transport the passenger capsules.
Theoretically, it is said to be capable of running at speeds of over 1200 km/h. If you use Hyperloop, you can get from Washington to New York in 29 minutes. It takes 16 minutes from Seoul to Busan. However, the commercialization of hyperloop is still far away. The top speed of Virgin Hyperloop, another hyperloop company that succeeded in the first manned operation last year, stayed at 172 km/h.
Las Vegas = Reporter Nojeong-dong Hankyung.com [email protected]
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