The future is near: “Virgin Hyperloop” ends its first human passenger test flight via capsule

According to the company, the flight is a major safety test for a technology it hopes will transform the transportation of people and goods.

The company said Virgin Hyperloop executives, Josh Gigl, chief technology officer, and Sarah Lucian, Director of Passenger Experience, reached speeds of up to 107 miles per hour (172 km per hour) at the company’s DevLoop test site in Las Vegas, Nevada.

“It has been a pleasure to see history being made before my eyes,” said Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Chairman of Virgin Hyperloop, Group Chairman and CEO of Dubai Ports World.

Los Angeles-based Virgin Hyperloop is looking for a future in which suspended capsules filled with passengers and cargo flow through evacuated tubes at 600 mph (966 km / h) or faster.

In the Hyperloop system, which uses magnetic height to allow near-silent travel, the flight between New York and Washington takes just 30 minutes. That would be twice as fast as a commercial flight and four times faster than a high-speed train.

The company previously performed more than 400 tests without a human passenger at the Nevada site.

The test comes a month after Reuters first announced that Virgin Hyperloop had chosen West Virginia to host a $ 500 million certification center and test track that would serve as a testing ground for its technology.

She said the company is working towards safety certification by 2025 and commercial operations by 2030.