Oh Dear Elon Has Found Another Con

What's the con here? The "article" doesn't lay out how Elon is supposed to enrich himself unduely with this supposed "con". That would be a critical part of a con one would think. This is a proof of concept track, just because it doesn't make money, it's not a con. Haters gonna hate...

You can't think of any way to make money by using hype to corral municipal transit contracts? You don't consider it a con to generate the hype with social media instead of ever, ever subjecting the product to competitive bidding processes? The implied question here is "would LA let an actual civil engineering firm dig a hole under the city as a proof of concept" and the answer is a pretty firm "of course not."

I think "con" is a cynical and slightly disingenuous way to describe this project. I'd probably go with "stunt" or something else, but I can absolutely understand the perspective that could drive this negative opinion.

>Just need to keep getting gullible local officials to throw money at you for a "study."

The article that this article is quoting says no public money is going towards this project. But of course you conveniently forgot to quote that bit...

This is clearly a proof of concept not a con ...