A few years ago, world-famous inventor and engineer Elon Musk announced the development of a special underground tunnel project that will allow vehicles to move at high speeds without traffic jams, weather conditions and other troubles. Unfortunately, the later ambitious project was never fully implemented, but Swiss engineers, clearly inspired by Musk’s idea, are betting heavily on this format of vehicle movement. They believe that by 2031, a whole network of tunnels will be built in the country for the delivery of goods with drone trucks that do not interfere with traffic on public roads.

Project developers plan to build 70-kilometer tunnels with ten stops for unloading or loading of unmanned vehicles with various loads until the appointed time. The idea of ​​the project is to create a fully autonomous transport system that can not only reduce the load on public roads, but also boast zero emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere. And while this may not seem like a big deal to some, experts believe that standard transportation systems will literally disappear in the next 30 years due to the increase in traffic.

At the same time, the Cargo Sous Terrain project turned out to be relatively modest compared to competitors such as Hyperloop, which promises to deliver goods at subsonic speeds. Swiss experts plan to create a tunnel with a diameter of about 6 meters, with flat ground and divided into three traffic lanes. These lanes will launch chains of small drones that will travel at a fairly modest 30km/h – so it will take them just over two hours to drive the entire section of the tunnel. It is planned to place a cargo platform that can only take one or two standard pallets per truck, there will also be containers with refrigerators for transporting food.

Trucks, of course, will be powered by power stations – electricity is planned to be supplied by induction rails, so you will not have to spend time charging the device. The drone will be loaded with goods and products at ground logistics facilities, then the truck will be lowered by conventional elevators to the entrance of the tunnel and down to the traffic lane. And if the $3 billion project is finally implemented, the trucking world will change forever.