Pascal Le Segretain/Getty ImagesElon Musk.Elon Musk is searching for a name for his new tunnelling machine — and he’s taking suggestions.
The high-profile tech executive is known for his ambitious (and sometimes outlandish) projects, from space exploration firm SpaceX to Neuralink, which aims to meld human brains with computers.
His latest is “The Boring Company,” a venture exploring the feasibility of digging underground tunnels and using them to reduce congestion and transform transportation in cities.
After joking about building a “tunnel boring machine” in December 2016 due to Los Angeles traffic, he dug a “demo tunnel” in February 2017 in SpaceX’s parking lot. And in April, we got our first look at the company’s first tunnelling machine after a SpaceX employee posted a photo on Instagram.
Musk took to Twitter late on Thursday night (Los Angeles time) to spitball possible names for the machine — and respond to suggestions from other Twitter users.
Why the second, someone asked? Well …
(This appears to be a reference to confusion around the Tesla Model 3, production on which is due to start in July.)
Another user suggested he skip straight to “the fourth.”
The exec showed he wasn’t above going with a bad pun.
But he had a deadpan response to someone who proposed “Boring machine.”
He also wasn’t impressed with the “Tunnel McTunnelFace” — after a poll to name a polar research vessel overwhelmingly selected “Boaty McBoatface.”
Lastly, a Twitter user suggested using a reference to Iain M. Banks, a legendary science fiction author.
Finally, here’s the tunnelling machine itself:
ScreenshotNeat.
Thinking about a name for our first tunnelling machine …
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 5, 2017
Maybe Ultimate Boring Machine, the Second
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 5, 2017
@reviewero By calling it “the Second”, it has more credibility
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 5, 2017
I know what you’re thinking … then why not “the Third”? Well, I’ve learned my lesson about 3’s.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 5, 2017
@AndrewHws I don’t want to be presumptuous
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 5, 2017
Kinda like Snoop Dug
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 5, 2017
@ivanmartinsanz Good one
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 5, 2017
@hunterbarnes144 Been done
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 5, 2017
@keithdcohen I do love Banks, but perhaps we should reserve his names for the droneships
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 5, 2017
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