Musk’s major underground tunnel transport system set to open December 10

Elon Musk has claimed the first segment of a huge underground transport system will be ready for use on December 10.

He revealed the news on Twitter, promising free rides for the public on December 11.

The tunnel, built by Musk's ‘Boring Company,’ will run under LA and transport both cars and public transport pods underneath the city on electric platforms.

The test tunnel runs 2.3km long underneath the Space X headquarters in Hawthorne, California, and will be used as a proof of concept for a larger-scale project.

Videos released by the Boring Company shows the tunnel is currently wide enough to fit a car - tested using a Tesla Model S.

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The tunnel is significantly more narrow than envisioned in concept videos, which show a multi-lane highway with separate lanes for public transport pods.  

The company’s website states a large network of tunnels would fix congestion in cities, with different levels of tunnels as the city grows.

Moving tracks, or skates, would minimize the diameter of a lane, and allow cars to travel up to 200km/h .

Many fans on Twitter were excited about the news, however others were sceptical about Musk’s time frame.

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Promises for the Tesla Model 3 were scaled back multiple times this year and last year, falling short of production targets.

“Dec 10 in real time or Elon time?” one Twitter user asked.

“I think real,” Musk replied.

“OK for 10 Dec, but in what year?” another asked.