In First Test, Hyperloop Pod Hits 192mph in 5 Seconds

Humans are one step closer to traveling in tubes after Hyperloop One conducted the first test of its hyperloop pod last weekend in the Nevada desert, Wired reports. The 28-foot-long pod hit speeds of 192mph in about five seconds using electricity to generate more than 3,000 horsepower while traveling through a 1,600-foot-long concrete tube. It sounded "a bit like a witch crying over a dead cat." Hyperloop One says everything about the pod, XP-1, functioned well during the test, according to TechCrunch. To reduce friction as much as possible, the air pressure in the tube was dropped to the equivalent of what it would be at 200,000 feet above sea level, and the pod used magnetic levitation. While the test went well, there are still many—many, many, many—additional steps and challenges before hyperloops become a transportation reality. (More Hyperloop stories.)