Despite Struggling with Cars, Tesla to Make ‘Pods’ for The Boring Company’s Chicago Loop

Elon Musk’s Tesla will reportedly be building the transportation “pods” for another Musk project, The Boring Company, which recently won a bid to create a transportation loop between downtown Chicago and O’Hare airport.

Following The Boring Company’s contract to construct a transportation loop between downtown Chicago and O’Hare airport, Elon Musk has stated that his car company Tesla will be constructing the transportation “pods” for the transit system, according to Electrek. During a press conference with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Elon Musk commended Chicago city for giving his company the chance to test if their technology will be economically viable on a large scale.

Musk stated: “Chicago is giving us the opportunity to show that the technology can be useful and economically viable on a large-scale.” Despite having projects underway in both Los Angeles and Baltimore, Musk seems confident that Chicago will be the first city to actually test The Boring Company’s loop technology: “We think Chicago will have the first public useful Loop from The Boring Company.”

Musk also said that he hopes that the public is cheering for the project to be a success because if it is, “everybody wins” but if it is not, only his investors lose money. Musk said that he expects drilling for the tunnel to begin within the next three to four months. “Aspirationally,” Musk said he believes the loop could be ready “within 18 to 24 months”, but could take longer although he believes it’s “unlikely” that the project will take more than three years.

It was previously believed that the loop would use Tesla’s electric powertrain but it is now believed that Tesla will be constructing transportation pods for the loop. Musk stated: “The high-speed pods that will travel in the tunnels will be made by Tesla.” Musk also claimed that Tesla had the best electric propulsion and autonomous driving systems and said that autonomous driving within a tunnel would be easier than on a road.

Passengers on the new system should hope that this is true as multiple car crashes involving Tesla’s autopilot system are currently under investigation by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).