Musk's Boring Co. lands first 'people mover' deal in Las Vegas

May 24 (UPI) -- Elon Musk's The Boring Co. has signed up its first paying customer -- the Las Vegas Convention Center.

The city's Convention and Visitor's Bureau approved a $48.6 million project this week to have the company build a "people mover" loop this summer. The autonomous, electric vehicles, which carry 16 people at a time, will shuttle riders across the 200-acre length of the convention center at speeds up to 155 mph, the company said.

Walking from the center's New Exhibit Hall to the North/Central Hall takes about 15 minutes, but it will take about a minute with the "people mover," Boring said. The project is expected to be finished by 2021.

"Las Vegas will continue to elevate the experience of our visitors with innovation, such as with this project, and by focusing on the current and future needs of our guests," Steve Hill, chief executive of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, said in a statement.

Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman cast the lone no vote on the project, expressing concern about The Boring Co.'s lack of experience. Musk started the company in 2016, initially frustrated about the traffic in Southern California.

While the Boring Co. is planning several projects -- such as the Dugout loop between Dodger Stadium and East Hollywood, the Chicago Express Loop and the East Coast Loop between Washington, D.C., and Baltimore -- they've all been stymied so far by opposition.

"Now is not the time to experiment with an untested, unproven transportation system that will impact our region's most important industry," Goodman said in a memo to convention board members this month.

The Boring Co. said the convention center is a small part its vision for Las Vegas. Future expansion plans extend the loop from old downtown Las Vegas, along the Strip and the new Las Vegas Stadium, to McCarran International Airport.