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Comments on reply on The Boring Company starts trials with 'revolutionary' Tunnel Boring Machine 'Prufrock'
Yes it is true that whenever an article has "Elon Musk" in it, the guy gets the benefit of the doubt even for radical things like 10 times faster boring tunnel boring machine.
Then again, people line Elon Musk do not get that line of credit for nothing. They earn it. Elon Musk has definitely earned that credit. He might use or waste that credit with in future, nobody knows. Until know, he showed that he is a disrupter and that he delivers. If he did not come up with innovations in rocket technology, such as reusable rockets, Boeing and others would have no incentive to innovate, akin to TBM industry anno 2020. If now everybody is talking about the hyperloop technology, we owe it to Elon Musk. I am not sure if he invented the idea, but anyway he popularized it.
A 15 fold or even 10 fold speed increase is just insane. I also find that it is very unlikely. It would be incredible if anyone achieved just a 100% increase. But then again, it is just impossible to write this guy off.
With a 10 times faster TBM, projects would finish much faster, though not 10 times faster. I do not think construction companies would have any problem with extra profits.
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This prufrock thing pure vaporware. Elon Musk has no experience in mechanical engineering yet alone in tunnel boring machines. You may hire some experienced people and get them tweak this and that on a Lovat TBM. But inventing a tunnel boring machine 10 times faster than standard TBM? It is a different level.
Also because this whole thing seems off ... it is based on the idea of tunnel construction for individual mass transport (cars) and not public transport - this article puts it very good: https://blog.worldsensing.com/trend-radar/theboringcompany/ .
But regardless what exactly they use the technology for, again, the idea of only improving one wheel in the system and then expecting bigger overall output is not logical.
Is Elon Musk’s “the Boring Company” the future of tunnelling or just a fad?
blog.worldsensing.comElon Musk’s The Boring Company is all over the news as the next big smart city technology, offering to transform the face of urban transportation.
Yes, placing cars on small skates or wagons whatever you call them is undeniably odd and definitely no public transport. I can't see how there will not be a long queue of cars waiting for the boarding, unless they have some boarding mechanism equal to or faster than an average speed of a car in a city ride - 25 mph?
Nice article.
Elon Musk was not a rocket scientist either.
I am sure those rockets are more complicated than tunnel boring machines.