X
ChatGPT's New SkillsResident Evil 4 RemakeGalaxy A54 5G Hands-OnTikTok CEO TestifiesHuawei's New Folding PhoneHow to Use Google's AI ChatbotAirlines and Family SeatingWeigh Yourself Accurately

Hyperloop video brings sci-fi to life, shows 190 mph test

Footage of an actual capsule shooting along a tube makes a crazy idea seem anything but.

edmoyer-web-adj-1.jpg
Edward Moyer
edmoyer-web-adj-1.jpg
Edward Moyer Senior Editor
Edward Moyer is a senior editor at CNET and a many-year veteran of the writing and editing world. He enjoys taking sentences apart and putting them back together. He also likes making them from scratch. ¶ For nearly a quarter of a century, he's edited and written stories about various aspects of the technology world, from the US National Security Agency's controversial spying techniques to historic NASA space missions to 3D-printed works of fine art. Before that, he wrote about movies, musicians, artists and subcultures.
Expertise Wordsmithery. Credentials Ed was a member of the CNET crew that won a National Magazine Award from the American Society of Magazine Editors for general excellence online. He's also edited pieces that've nabbed prizes from the Society of Professional Journalists and others.
See full bio
img-4302
Watch this: Hyperloop One achieves milestone in new tests

You mean it wasn't just an  Elon Musk  fever dream?

Hyperloop One loads its XP-1 test pod into the depressurized tube.

Hyperloop One loads its XP-1 test pod into the depressurized tube.

 Hyperloop One; Youtube screenshot by CNET

Apparently not, as we're now seeing a real-world, magnet-powered Hyperloop pod levitate its way through a tube at an impressive clip.

On Wednesday, Hyperloop One, one of two companies working to bring Musk's concept to life, posted a video of its XP-1 test pod flying along at 190 mph in a tube free of air resistance.

This is two and a half months after the firm flaunted video of its first depressurized-tube test, which featured just the vehicle's chassis gliding ahead at about 65 mph. And it's a mere four years after Musk first floated the idea.

Get in the 'loop

Yeah, it sorta feels like sci-fi come to life, but we're not there yet. The 190 mph speed is far short of the 700 mph goal, and many other details need to be worked out.

Still, it's exhilarating to root for this futuristic Little Engine That Could, and to entertain the now-more-real idea of zipping from San Francisco to LA or New York to Washington in half an hour.