If you're in the mood for it, why not help multi-billionaire Elon Musk (founder of low cost launch provider SpaceX and electric car maker Tesla, Inc.) figure out a new name for the tunnel boring machines (TBMs) he plans to use to build lots of tunnels under lots of American cities.
And the "punnier" the name, the better.
Musk took to Twitter on May 5 to issue the "Name my tunnel boring machine challenge" to everyone out there. The prize: bragging rights. What can you expect from a billionaire? Money?
Musk even tweeted some names he crafted to get the ball (or is it the TBM?) rolling. One of Musk's creations: Ultimate Boring Machine, the Second. A second idea: Snoop Dug.
The TBMs will be the front-end of his new business venture named "The Boring Company."
The Boring Company will build a series of tunnels in Los Angeles so commuters can avoid traffic. His idea for a tunnel boring company went public in December 2016 when he tweeted that Los Angeles traffic is driving him "nuts."
In January of this year, Musk said he planned to start digging in "a month or so," although the public wasn't sure what that meant exactly.
In February, The Boring Company began digging a 30 foot wide, 50 foot long and 15 foot deep "test trench" on the premises of SpaceX's offices in Los Angeles.
According to Musk, the company's goal is to enhance tunneling speed enough such that establishing an underground network of tunnels is financially feasible.
"If you think of tunnels going 10, 20, 30 layers deep (or more), it is obvious that going 3D down will encompass the needs of any city's transport of arbitrary size," said Musk.
In March, Musk announced that sometime the company will start using a digging machine to begin digging a usable tunnel at SpaceX in April. No word on whether this event occurred, however.
Guess Musk needs a catchy name to move his TBM forward, huh?