LIVE FROM MWC LAS VEGAS 2022: Ed Finger, CFO at the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (pictured, left), hailed Elon Musk’s The Boring Company’s Vegas Loop shuttle service as one of the great technology innovations to hit the city, as he opened up on how it deployed the service.

First set in motion in July, the Vegas Loop uses a fleet of Tesla cars travelling through an underground tunnel to transport trade show attendees across four halls of the Las Vegas Convention Centre and also connects to the Resorts World hotel.

The Authority states the typical walk time between the West hall of the venue to the North and Central hall can take up to 25 minutes, but the same trip on the Loop takes two minutes.

It has been designed to transport more than 4,400 convention attendees per hour across the campus.

Talking on stage with Boingo Wireless CEO Mike Finley, Finger said the Authority launched a “people mover” request for proposal (RFP) to solve congestion issues, pointing to a typical busy CES day which could have up to 170,000 people on the campus.

Among the proposals it received included a fixed guideway train, gondolas moving transporting people above buildings and The Boring Company’s Loop proposition.

Finger said the proposal had a lot of competitive advantages, including price, while it also was faster to deploy and caused little interference during construction.

“They busted through the first tunnel here on campus in less than a year. In tunnel space that is unheard of. So, there’s a tonne of technology inside the system, security, life safety and vehicle operations,” he said.

In total, The Boring Company is entitled to bring 30 miles of roadway to the city, with aims to take it along the Las Vegas Strip, and to the city’s airport and NFL stadium.