First passengers try high-speed Virgin Hyperloop vacuum pods

Virgin Hyperloop has trialled its first-ever journey with human passengers at more than 100mph in the Nevada desert.

Richard Branson's new technology, considered to be the future of high-speed ground transport, carries people in pods which travel through vacuum tubes.

The two passengers - Virgin Hyperloop executives Josh Giegel and Sara Luchian - reached speeds of up to 107mph (172kph) at the company's DevLoop test site in Las Vegas on Sunday.

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

Virgin Hyperloop has previously run over 400 tests without human passengers at the Nevada site. The company is working toward safety certification by 2025 and commercial operations by 2030, it has said.

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