Elon Musk’s Recent Suggestion for Japan

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is known for the many companies he manages, also running SpaceX, Neuralink, Twitter and The Boring Company in addition to the energy-auto brand. In a recent post, Musk suggested that Japan should use The Boring Company’s services, which could potentially cut down on the chaos in one notable urban center.

Above: A Tesla Model 3 (Image: Casey Murphy / EVANNEX).

Musk has suggested that Tokyo’s incredibly busy Shibuya Crossing use the services of his business The Boring Company to help with traffic, as The Street recently reported. After one user on Twitter shared some details about the infamous intersection, Musk shot back with a suggestion for Japanese officials.

"The Shibuya Crossing in Tokio is frequently called 'the busiest pedestrian intersection in the world,'” said the user in the post. "A flow measurement survey estimated up to 390,000 pedestrians per day.”

Musk quickly pointed to The Boring Company as having a potential solution, suggesting the company’s tunnels could reduce pedestrian traffic at the crossing.

"Can I interest you in a tunnel, perhaps? @boringcompany,” Musk responded, as later retweeted by The Boring Company account.

The Shibuya Crossing is regularly compared to the likeness of New York City’s Times Square or London’s Piccadilly Circus, due to its use of massive screens for advertising and its constant stream of pedestrian crowds. To be sure, The Boring Company’s ideas for underground tunnel systems led by Tesla’s vehicles (and perhaps someday autonomously) are designed to minimize traffic, and the company has already begun its first operations.

Above: My first ride in the Boring Tunnel Loop in Las Vegas (Video: CNET / YouTube).

The Boring Company currently has its first underground tunnel loop in Las Vegas, Nevada though prospective projects in Texas and Florida have also been reported in recent years. The company operates on a design focus surrounding the need to mitigate traffic in downtown centers, noting the versatility of using underground space to do so.

"Tunnels minimize usage of valuable surface land and do not conflict with existing transportation systems," The Boring Company writes on its website. "A large network of tunnels can alleviate congestion in any city; no matter how large a city grows, more levels of tunnels can be added."

Last year, a filing showed that The Boring Company proposed an underground tunnel loop in Austin, Texas, where Musk’s Tesla and TBC are based. The company has also been in discussion with authorities in San Antonio, Texas, as well as Fort Lauderdale, Florida. As for whether officials in Tokyo want to consider Musk’s tunnels for the Shibuya Crossing, well, it seems the ball is now in their court.

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