A recent video shared on Twitter by Jacob Orth reveals what appears to be a possible prototype of Tesla's shuttle for The Boring Company at their Las Vegas headquarters.
The short, nine-second clip is a quick walkaround of the prototype. Notably, the minibus has seats on each side of the vehicle and a Model 3-styled steering wheel. According to Inside EVs, there have been rumors of Tesla building a prototype for The Boring Company.
The people-mover/minibus project was first mentioned in CEO Elon Musk’s “Tesla Master Plan Part 2” back in 2016. In it, Musk outlined new sectors of transportation Tesla was working to electrify.
“In addition to consumer vehicles, there are two other types of electric vehicle needed: heavy-duty trucks and high passenger-density urban transport,” Musk wrote. “Both are in the early stages of development at Tesla and should be ready for unveiling next year. We believe the Tesla Semi will deliver a substantial reduction in the cost of cargo transport while increasing safety and making it really fun to operate.”
Tesla brought one of those realities to fruition via the Tesla Semi, unveiled shortly after Musk’s “Tesla Master Plan Part 2”. It went into production last year, but has struggled to ramp up production, despite the profound improvements being made to Tesla’s manufacturing process.
Video of Tesla "Shuttle" Prototype
Although the video shared by Orth appears authentic, we have not been able to confirm its authenticity. The video may also be several years old according to Reddit user, EuthanizeArty. They say they saw this prototype at The Boring Company when they interviewed there four years ago.
“Saw this thing 4 years ago when I was interviewing at Boring,” they said. “I don’t think it’s in active development.”
Leaked video of the secret Tesla van prototype designed for Elon Musk's Vegas Loop, from inside The Boring Company's Las Vegas headquarters pic.twitter.com/A3A3XJ0UTx
— Jacob Orth (@JacobsVegasLife) July 10, 2023
