Elon Musk took to Twitter early this morning to sketch out a new plan to disrupt traffic on American roadways by digging tunnels underground to circumvent congestion.
Specifically, Musk wants to open The Boring Company, which he says will actually happen. In a series of four tweets, Musk didn’t reveal exactly how he would do this without causing even more traffic, since that’s what happens with construction projects.
There’s a chance Musk was just venting his frustration out loud on Twitter this morning. He’s one of the only people where it’s equally possible he’s just making a corny joke or actually scheming an earth-moving infrastructure plan. But now that Musk joined Trump’s advisory team, it’s worth taking what he says seriously.
And the serial entrepreneur did update his Twitter bio to read, “Tesla, SpaceX, Tunnels (yes, tunnels) & OpenAI.”
Traffic is driving me nuts. Am going to build a tunnel boring machine and just start digging… — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 17, 2016
It shall be called “The Boring Company” — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 17, 2016
Boring, it’s what we do — – Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 17, 2016
I am actually going to do this — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 17, 2016
As an advisor to Trump, Musk may have more pull to see this through. Trump said he plans to invest big — $1 trillion — to rebuild American infrastructure and reshape American roads, specifically by attracting private investment.
Musk is no stranger to tackling big problems with innovative workarounds, and he certainly knows a lot about transportation.
But Musk is already fairly busy. He’s working to one day colonize Mars, hence Space X, his interplanetary transportation company. He’s deeply concerned with climate change, which is one of the reasons he makes electric cars with Tesla and solar installations with SolarCity. Artificial intelligence could one day outsmart humanity and lead to the ultimate destruction of all humans, so last year he started a nonprofit called OpenAI to help find solutions to keep AI working for, and not against us.
Before joining Trump’s advisory team, the Tesla CEO said Trump “doesn’t seem to have the sort of character that reflects well on the United States.”
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