Elon Musk's dream of tube-based transportation is one step closer to reality after the first successful trial using full-scale Hyperloop passenger pods.
Carried out by Hyperloop One, the frontrunner in the race to realise a transportation system of near-supersonic speeds, the test took place at the company's DevLoop site in Nevada ? the first and only full-scale Hyperloop test track in the world.
Installed in a barren stretch of desert, the 500-metre concrete tube allows the Hyperloop One team to accelerate a levitated pod at high speeds in a near-vacuum using its proprietary propulsion and control systems.

The system employs mag-lev ? the same technology that is used by high-speed trains in Japan ? in which the electromagnetic levitation of the train means there is no friction, unlike traditional trains that run on tracks. Mounted on 16 wheels that retract as the magnetic levitation takes over, the carbon fibre and aluminium passenger pod measures 8.7 metres long and resembles a bus with beak-shaped nose. The test saw the electric propulsion system apply the equivalent of 3000 horsepower to the pod, which reached a speed of 190 miles per hour (305 kilometres per hour) in about five seconds before safely coming to a stop.
"The XP-1 performed as designed, handling high speeds and levitating in a vacuum tube depressurised to the equivalent of flying at 200,000 feet above sea level," said Hyperloop One co-founders Josh Giegel and Shervin Pishevar on the...