Autonomous testing of Tesla cars has begun in the 3.5-mile tunnel system that Elon Musk’s Boring Company operates below the Las Vegas Convention Center.
“We’ve started to test,” Steve Hill, CEO of city marketing organization the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA), told Fortune in an interview at his office earlier this month. Hill specified that the autonomous testing had begun prior to Tesla’s robotaxi launch in June—at the end of 2024—and that no passengers have been in vehicles during the testing.
Thus far, all the initial testing has been done with the standard Full Self-Driving (FSD) software that consumers can get in their personal Tesla vehicles, and with a Boring Company safety operator in the driver’s seat, according to Hill, who awarded the Boring Company its first transportation contract and who has overseen all of Boring’s initial construction and tunneling in the broader county thus far. Hill said that Boring Company is operating the vehicles, but was unsure of Tesla’s exact role in the testing apart from furnishing the vehicles and the self-driving software. There have been no scrapes or accidents thus far, though safety drivers have “periodically” had to intervene and take control of the vehicles, Hill said.
The Boring Company and Elon Musk have repeatedly suggested that the Teslas driving below Las Vegas will eventually drive themselves, but until now, there has been no firm timeline for when that process would formally begin. The Boring Company, which received initial approvals to construct a 68-mile underground taxi system below Las Vegas, still has not received the necessary permits to dig within city limits, a Las Vegas spokesman confirmed (the Las Vegas Convention Center tunnel is technically in Clark County). Tesla and the Boring Company did not respond to requests for comment.
In the future, the Boring Company will remove safety drivers from the front seat during testing, Hill said, but there is no telling when that will take place, as it will depend on when Tesla, where Musk is CEO, and the Boring Company can demonstrate to the LVCVA that it is safe to do so. Convention center attendees will also need to become comfortable with the idea before testing with riders begins, according to Hill. “I think it’s a ways off,” Hill said, noting it is crucial that the system can “work exceptionally well and instill and earn confidence” among the people who ride in it.
The current Boring Company tunnel system comprises two adjacent one-way single-lane tunnels connecting passengers to different ends of the Las Vegas Convention Center as well as to Resorts World and the Westgate hotel and casino.
Hill said that the vehicles are currently being tested in self-driving mode inside the tunnels, “experiencing the environment,” as “they find spots that are difficult for them.” The rock walls of the tunnels, Hill said, combined with the bright, colorful lights in the passageways create some “interesting but odd lighting” for Tesla’s self-driving system, which uses video cameras only and does not rely on the radar and lidar sensors that most of its competitors use to help the cars “see” the world around them.
The tunnels should make for a “much easier environment” for autonomous vehicles than the open roads of Austin—where Tesla has begun a limited, small-scale robotaxi operation with employees in the passenger seat—because in the tunnels, the Boring Company has complete control over what and who enters, Hill said. In theory, that means fewer unexpected “edge” cases for the autonomous cars to contend with, whether it be cyclists, pedestrians, or animals getting in the way (though the tunnel has had its share of trespassers). So far, Hill said there have not been any scrapes or accidents. Still, Hill noted, the Boring Company is “going to have to show us that and make us comfortable that [they] can take the next step.” The LVCVA will likely also bring in a consultant before the safety driver is removed, according to Hill.
“Sooner or later, this is going to be autonomous,” Hill said.
For now, the Boring Company is in the process of expanding its tunnel system and fleet of human drivers—currently working on an underground road to the Las Vegas airport. That tunnel will emerge on a property nearby, and human-driven Teslas will drive the rest of the way to and from the airport on the main roads, “like Uber and Lyft,” Hill said. Boring has been awaiting permits from the city to run a tunnel below Las Vegas Boulevard. The company has announced plans to start digging below another city, too: Nashville.
Fortune reported last year that there had been trespassing in the Las Vegas tunnels, as well as a series of safety episodes, including Boring Company workers getting burned with chemicals in the tunnels, Boring employees digging too close to the Las Vegas monorail, and the collapse of an enormous concrete bin in front of the convention center. OSHA issued several “serious” violations to the Boring Company last year, which the Musk-owned company is appealing. That appellate hearing, which was scheduled for mid-August, has been postponed until later this year.
After Fortune’s reporting, Hill said that his agency would take a more hands-on role with safety, and he appointed an LVCVA employee to oversee Boring Company’s work. Hill said he is not aware of any other serious safety incidents since that appointment.
“I think it’s been really helpful,” Hill said, noting that the Boring Company has been “completely welcoming” of the LVCVA’s safety oversight.
While the current iteration of the Boring Company’s underground network is a far cry from the high-speed hyperloop system Musk initially talked about, where customers would blast around in autonomous electric pods at more than 600 miles per hour, Hill said he’s proud of the system in its current form, noting it is “the highest-rated feature we have” at the convention center. “People love it,” he said, noting that the only reason Boring isn’t digging any faster is because of holdups with getting permits issued.
“We’re holding them back. They’re not holding us back,” Hill said.
