Virgin Hyperloop successfully transported its first human passengers in a hyperloop pod.
Josh Giegel, co-founder and Chief Technology Officer for Virgin Hyperloop, and Sara Luchian, director of passenger experience, were the first people to ride in the system at the company’s 500-meter DevLoop test site in Las Vegas over the weekend. The company has run over 400 unoccupied tests.
Hyperloop provides transportation in a pod placed inside a vacuum that moves via magnetic energy and electricity. The system provides an on-demand transportation model that the company says will revolutionize transit. The hyperloop technology is said to be able to propel passenger or cargo pods at speeds of more than 600 mph, which is three times faster than high-speed rail and more than 10 times faster than traditional rail.
“For the past few years, the Virgin Hyperloop team has been working on turning its ground-breaking technology into reality,” said Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group. “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.”
The human test comes just weeks after Virgin Hyperloop announced it would locate its Hyperloop Certification Center in West Virginia, and just months after the U.S. Department of Transportation outlined a clear regulatory framework for hyperloop in the United States.
“When we started in a garage over 6 years ago, the goal was simple – to transform the way people move,” Giegel said. “Today, we took 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.”
The testing was overseen by the industry-recognized Independent Safety Assessor (ISA) Certifer.