Elon Musk’s “mass” transportation enterprise, often called The Boring Company, has been valued at $5.675 billion, based on a press launch from the company. Yes, that’s billion with a “B.” And who says the Silicon Valley hype machine is useless?

The valuation comes after The Boring Company raised $675 million in a Series C funding spherical with the assistance of Vy Capital and Sequoia Capital, regardless of the hole between what The Boring Company has promised and what it in the end winds up constructing.

The firm was based by Elon Musk with the dream of digging tunnels that might assist transfer massive quantities of individuals rapidly to their vacation spot underground. This was going to be achieved by the Hyperloop high-speed transportation system and the slower, however nonetheless revolutionary, Loop system. Musk bought the digging half down, however, as for all the opposite specifics, The Boring Company has turn out to be little greater than a punchline.

When Musk first introduced his plans for the Loop system in 2018, it was going to hold 16-passenger electrical automobiles at 155 miles per hour. The automobiles have been going to be autonomous, naturally, and make the most of a model new “skating” expertise that Musk by no means totally defined.

The revolutionary automobiles have been supposed to chop down commutes considerably. In Chicago, as only one instance, Musk promised folks would be capable of get to from downtown to O’Hare Airport in about 12 minutes, in contrast with current trains that took 40-45 minutes.

But the undertaking with Chicago fell aside and the one actual undertaking The Boring Company has constructed up to now has been the Las Vegas Loop, which isn’t something like what Musk promised. The tunnels solely have common Tesla cars and so they’re even pushed by human drivers. The Loop’s high velocity is simply 35 miles per hour, based on the Las Vegas Review Journal. And who is aware of the place that complete “skating” thought went. The vehicles simply drive on the common street like the rest.

It seems to be like The Boring Company even purged the outdated animated video of the Loop 16-passenger car from Vimeo. Thankfully, we nonetheless have a GIF of that future—a greater future— that was promised, which you’ll see beneath.

Compare that with the truth at present in Vegas, a daily Tesla being pushed by a human in a tunnel. Driven slowly and shaky, at that.

The Boring Company lays out its three targets as fixing site visitors, beautifying cities, and enabling rapid-point-to-point transportation—very worthy targets certainly. The solely downside is that it doesn’t seem to be The Boring Company is constructing one thing that might really assist humanity in any significant method past what’s already out there.

“To solve the problem of soul-destroying traffic, roads must go 3D. Tunnels minimize usage of valuable surface land and do not conflict with existing transportation systems. A large network of tunnels can alleviate congestion in any city,” the corporate claims in its press launch asserting the $5.6 billion valuation.

Except the Boring Company hasn’t really solved site visitors. Or something, actually. As lengthy because the Loop system makes use of Teslas pushed by people driving slowly in a tunnel, it is going to by no means be the factor that Musk promised. But that hasn’t stopped different cities from trying into getting Musk to construct them an underground tunnel.

Good luck, Musk. You actually know how one can promote an thought. But the ensuing product leaves a lot to be desired.