Friday, February 17, 2017

Elon Musk Pursues Tunneling Technology

Tech wiz and market disruptor Elon Musk is looking to revolutionize how underground tunnels are made, with an eye to building underground transit networks which could decongest cities:

https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/16/elon-musk-doesnt-just-want-to-bore-tunnels-he-wants-to-make-boring-better/





Musk is has targeted this particular sector because he feels it's ripe for innovation and disruption, since the technology hasn't advanced in over half a century. India should look at applying any revolutions in this field towards improving its own infrastructure.

I know Rajeev feels urban concentrations go against India's traditional village existence, but on the other hand, big cities can function more efficiently by concentrating large numbers of people in close proximity to infrastructure and resources. "3D cities" could enable more people to live within close proximity of work to ease their commute, while also making more efficient use of mass transit. Previously it was the rise of the automobile and cheap gas which facilitated suburban sprawl, while in the future the opposite scenario may be favored.

Additionally, India has some of the highest mountainous regions in the world, located in remote and highly disputed boundary areas. The ability to tunnel deeply into mountainsides could help in creating more fortified and impregnable defenses, as well as in improving logistical transport supply lines to these remote areas.

3 comments:

Samhita said...

It is funny how Indians get carried away by the so called visionary tech scam artists. Musk is some one who know crafting a personal brand & pr. Tesla was not his work, he took-off from major work done by the original founder Martin Eberhard.

Hyperloop is another scam. Can's see those HTT and HT One going in loops about proof of it's merit. There are so many theoretical and practical flaws in the idea & implementation. India fell prey to those no-nothing obnoxious guys of HTT, one of them does a hybrid act of new-age swami and all-good wanding of hands, while knowing nothing of the technicalities and engineering of the project.

Boring project as ascribed by Musk is real Boring, another Ponzi scheme for getting subsidies and goodwill of the gov. and then he would loan it across the car and space fairy tales. One day you'll have to make real profit!

san said...

Yes,I realize there are a lot of skeptics who feel Musk is always trying to profit from subsidies. On the other hand, he's marshaled together a lot of engineering talent, and pioneered some impressive tech advancements. Tunneling could be a technology whose time to shine has come.

nizhal yoddha said...

my concern about cities is based on them being car centric, not people centric. if the coming boom in self driving cars means cities become pedestrian friendly again, things would be fine in my opinion. our inner cities are now dangerous for pedestrians.