Elon Musk’s Boring Company could start digging under your home sooner than you think

“One of the most soul-destroying things is traffic… It takes away so much of your life. It’s horrible. It’s particularly horrible in L.A.,” billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk said at a TED Conference in April.

The Boring Company, Musk’s brainchild, is now hoping to fix that issue. The infrastructure firm filed an application on Nov. 16 with Los Angeles officials seeking approval to begin digging tunnels within city limits, the Los Angeles Times reported. It already has gained approval to build a two-mile underground track in Hawthorne.

An initial proposed route would start near Space X headquarters in Hawthorne, where the first stage has already grown 500 feet, and “go along the 405 to Westwood, with a number of stops along the way,” a Boring Company spokesperson said Tuesday. It would carry commuters on electric platforms, dubbed “skates,” that could reach speeds up to 130 mph.

While the digging could take as short as a year, bureaucratic requirements involving permits and reviews could drag the process out much longer. Council member Mike Bonin already asked Boring Company representatives for a city report on the policy and regulatory questions that lawmakers should consider. Meanwhile, there are concerns about whether the city should support a privatized transportation system. [LAT] – Natalie Hoberman