Is this a new Tesla product?

The van-like vehicle is very similar to the compartments the Boring Company showed in its drawings five years ago. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and Boring Company at the time, promised that the company would have “autonomous vehicles” and “ground-to-tunnel car lifts” in its tunnels.

However, the reality turned out to be different in 2020 when the company completed the construction of tunnels for the movement of people at the Las Vegas Convention Center, relying on a slightly modified fleet of Tesla passenger cars.

So is Tesla or Boring Company really working on such a minibus? For now, we can only guess.

A short clip of the prototype leaves many questions. The source could not confirm the authenticity of the video, but according to Las Vegas writer Jacob Orth, who shared the clip, The video was shot at the Boring Company’s headquarters in Las Vegas.

• Equipped with a Tesla steering wheel and driver’s seat, the prototype demonstrates that it is far from capable of navigating streets or even tunnels on its own.
• There are also two rows of regular seats (12 seats). It is a much more suitable vehicle than classic Tesla cars to transport thousands of passengers from point A to point B.
• The walls and roof are made in the form of a transparent dome, slightly darkened by the sun, reminiscent of an armored chariot in which the Pope once rode.

Tesla has been talking about creating an electric coach or van for years, and Musk promised “high-density urban transport” in his “Tesla Master Plan Part 2” published in 2016. But 12 places are not “high density”.

Tesla disbanded its PR department years ago. Therefore, it is unlikely that we will receive answers to questions about this transportation in the near future.