A news report about three SpaceX employees who were hit by a car on Dec. 17 after leaving work. The incident occurred at 2:15 a.m. About three hours later, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk posted the following Tweets:
Traffic is driving me nuts. Am going to build a tunnel boring machine and just start digging…
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 17, 2016
It shall be called “The Boring Company”
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 17, 2016
Boring, it’s what we do
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 17, 2016
I am actually going to do this
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 17, 2016
A source tells Parabolic Arc that traffic on Crenshaw Boulevard where the employees were struck is heavy. During the day, crossing guards help guide people across the street. Musk has wanted a tunnel built under the street to make it easier and safer for employees to cross.
The Tweets set off a wave of media speculation that envisioned a frustrated Musk sitting in LA traffic devising a way of disrupting the tunneling business. Some speculated the tunneling was needed for the Hyperloop rapid transit systems; others thought it would be useful for underground martian settlements.
The source said it was disturbing that Musk was tweeting about how much traffic was bothering him, and talking about a new business venture, while making no reference to the accident or his injured employees in the hospital. The tweets came off as crass and unfeeling.
The three female employees survived the accident. Two of them were back in the hospital on Thursday for additional surgery, according to the NBC News 4 report. You can read more here: http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Hit-and-Run-Video-Hawthorne-Crosswalk-Search-SpaceX-408680785.html