Elon Musk finishes digging Las Vegas 'Loop' train amid Covid-19 crisis

A giant drill called Godot Plus broke through a wall near the spot where it will connect to the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Not all of Elon Musk’s projects have been thwarted by the coronavirus pandemic. While the billionaire clashed this week with local officials over restarting production at a Tesla factory in California, his tunnel-drilling company hit a new milestone.

A giant drill called Godot Plus broke through a wall near the spot where it will connect to the Las Vegas Convention Center.

The event marked the final phase of excavation for the project’s two main transportation tunnels and will allow Musk’s Boring to collect its next portion of a total $48.7 million in payment from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

“From a construction standpoint, we’re comfortably in the schedule,” said Steve Hill, the authority’s chief executive officer. In fact, he said Boring Co. is “somewhat ahead,” making him confident that the company’s planned transportation network will be open to the public on time, by January.

The milestone comes just one year after the LVCVA approved the project, and the completion of both tunnels signals remarkably speedy progress for major infrastructure construction.

CES 2019: From AI to IoT and 5G, innovations that will be big at tech event

CES 2019 will see technology majors, start-ups and technology enthusiasts coming together to unveil, announce and showcase innovations that would set the tone for the rest of the year.

Business Standard : CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SHOW 2019 (CES 2019)

The Consumer Electronics Show 2019 (CES 2019), a five-day yearly technology-centric event, is set to start from January 8 in Las Vegas, US. Like its earlier iterations, this year’s event would see technology majors, start-ups and technology enthusiasts coming together to unveil, announce and showcase innovations that would dominate the technology space for the rest of the year. Business Standard lists five major themes that are expected to dominate the mecca of technology this year.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)

Since its inception, AI has come a long way. At CES 2019, technology enthusiasts are expected to showcase innovations in this machine-based self-learning technology, which will be a new milestone and see its deployment in areas that are currently not under its purview. As a result, the said technology is expected to become mainstream this year and reach consumers in more ways than at present.

INTERNET OF THINGS (IOT)

IoT is about connected devices that communicate, interact and work in tandem to deliver experience that otherwise is not possible without manual intervention by human. Therefore, this technology is shaping up smart homes and enterprises that relies on automation to get most things done. With 5G around the corner, expect a lot more IoT-enabled devices at CES 2019 that will shape the future generation smart homes and enterprises.

AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES (AVS)

The idea of autonomous vehicles is still more or less a concept that is transforming into reality every day. In CES 2019, expect technology majors to showcase their advancements and innovations in the field of automation that would shape up the autonomous vehicle industry.

5G BEYOND PHONES

5G is projected to offer three key benefits – faster data transfer speeds, lower latency and increased bandwidth. Though these benefits would improve experience for smartphone users, the key 5G use cases go beyond phones. For example, lower latency and increased bandwidth would make 5G a key technology enabler for IoT — a network that links phones, computers, robots, cars, home appliances, etc. At CES, technology enthusiasts would showcase the use cases of the next-generation connectivity solution.