Musk wants a 200 mph 'precursor Hyperloop' tunnel from Austin to San Antonio: what is actually known

The Boring Company has a new, much bigger idea for Texas. On Sunday, September 20, Elon Musk wrote on X that the company is working on a "simple, precursor Hyperloop tunnel" between Austin and San Antonio, with speeds of more than 200 mph (about 320 km/h). The company's own account quickly backed him up, saying it would be "excited and honored" to build it.

What was said

• The route: Austin to San Antonio, two of the largest cities in Texas, about 80 miles (130 km) apart by road.
• The speed: more than 200 mph, according to Musk.
• The trip: under 30 minutes. The Boring Company said that because its Loop and Hyperloop systems are express, with no stops in between, a trip from an Austin parking lot to a San Antonio restaurant could take about half an hour, as long as both cities have Loop stations.
• Today's alternative: the drive takes about 1 hour 20 minutes in normal traffic, according to Visit Austin, and up to 2.5 hours in heavy congestion, according to the company.

What is missing

Almost everything that a real infrastructure project needs. There is no published route, no station locations, no cost estimate, no financing plan, no permits and no construction schedule. No agreement with the state of Texas or either city has been announced. It is also unclear what "precursor Hyperloop" means in practice: the company has not said whether it would use low-pressure tubes, special pods or ordinary vehicles in a tunnel, as in Las Vegas.

The comparison with the original Hyperloop is telling. When Musk popularised the idea in 2013, it was a Los Angeles to San Francisco system linked to speeds around 700 mph in low-pressure tubes. A 200 mph tunnel is a far more modest target.

A dose of caution is also warranted because of the company's track record. Earlier Boring Company proposals for Chicago, Los Angeles and a New York to Washington link never became operating networks. Today only the Vegas Loop carries passengers regularly.

Why now

The timing follows a major funding round. Earlier this month The Boring Company raised $3 billion in a Series D at a valuation of $23 billion, led by investors from the United Arab Emirates. The company has not said whether any of that money would go to a Texas line.

The Tesla link

Austin is Tesla's home: its headquarters and Gigafactory Texas are there, and it is the city where Tesla already runs driverless Robotaxi rides in both Model Y cars and the Cybercab. In Las Vegas, every Loop vehicle is a Tesla. If a Texas tunnel were built on the Loop model, it would almost certainly run Tesla vehicles too, and some observers see it as a possible dedicated corridor for driverless cars such as the Cybercab. That is speculation for now: Musk has not said which vehicles would use the tunnel.

What to watch next

• Any filing, route map or talks with the Texas Department of Transportation.
• A clear technical description: tunnel size, air pressure and vehicle type.
• Whether Loop stations appear in Austin and San Antonio first, which the 30-minute claim depends on.