First passengers travel in a hyperloop pod through vacuum tube

‘This spirit of innovation will change the way people everywhere live, work, and travel,’ said Sir Richard Branson

The first passengers have travelled successfully aboard a hyperloop – exceeding 100mph inside a magnetic-levitation pod enclosed in a near-vacuum tube.

Josh Giegel, the chief technology officer and co-founder, and Sara Luchian, director of passenger experience, travelled just one-third of a mile at the Virgin Hyperloop One test track, known as DevLoop, in the Nevada desert just north of Las Vegas.

They occupied a special two-seater pod, though production vehicles are planned to carry up to 28 people. The journey lasted just 15 seconds and reached 107mph.

Mr Giegel described the experience as “one giant leap toward that ultimate dream, not only for me, but for all of us who are looking towards a moonshot right here on Earth”.

Ms Luchian said: “What better way to design the future than to actually experience it first-hand?”

Jay Walder, the chief executive of Virgin Hyperloop, said: “I can’t tell you how often I get asked ‘is hyperloop safe?

“With today’s passenger testing, we have successfully answered this question.”

Virgin Hyperloop tested more than 400 unmanned missions before the human trial. The speed reached was a fraction of the 670mph aim for the technology – faster than the cruising speed of jet aircraft.

The company is aiming to install a link connecting Abu Dhabi with Dubai in the UAE, and is working on a hyperloop connecting Mumbai and Pune in India.

In 2018, Sir Richard Branson laid out plans for a hyperloop network across Britain. 

After the trial in Nevada, the Virgin founder said: “With today’s successful test, we have shown that this spirit of innovation will in fact change the way people everywhere live, work, and travel in the years to come.”

Another billionaire, Elon Musk, is working on a rival system. The Tesla founder set up The Boring Company to construct “a high-speed underground public transportation system” based on a network of low-cost tunnels.

The plan is to transport passengers at up to 150mph in autonomous Tesla vehicles beneath and between cities.