Elon Musk offers free rides through L.A. transit tunnel

Elon Musk says he plansto offer the public free rides through a tunnel he bored under a Los Angeles suburb to test a new type of transportation system.

The 3.2-kilometre tunnel is designed for electric sledswhich move atspeeds of up to 200 km/hover magnetic rails; technology akin to his more ambitious but undeveloped hyperloopsystem.

In a series of tweets Sunday, Musk said the tunnel is almost complete and he plans to open it on the evening of Dec. 10, with free rides for the public the next day.

The tunnel, dug by Musk's The Boring Co. runs underneath theHawthorne, Calif., headquarters of SpaceX, another of his companies.

The vehicles will theoretically transport eight to 16 passengers.

The Boring Co.has been selected to build a rapid transit link between downtown Chicago and its O'Hare International Airport.

It also has ambitionsto build a second tunnel in L.A. between Los Feliz or East Hollywood and Dodgers stadium. Musk hopes to eventually build an underground hyperloop system with even faster speeds to link New York and Washington, D.C.

With files from The Associated Press