Hyperloop One floats vehicle above track in first full-scale test

Hyperloop One, just one of several startups trying to build Elon Musk's Hyperloop, has notched up an important milestone, today announcing it has successfully tested its full-scale system for the first time. While it has still got considerable work to do before it fires passenger pods through tubes at supersonic speeds, it was able to levitate the moving test vehicle over the track in what it describes as its "Kitty Hawk" moment.

Hyperloop One, along with its competitors like Hyperloop Transportation Technologies and Arrivo, aims to one day establish networks of near-vacuum tubes that shuttle passenger and cargo pods along at close to the speed of sound. This Hyperloop system would make it possible to travel between San Francisco and Los Angeles in 30 minutes.

And Hyperloop One does seem to be making some solid progress. In March it revealed its full-scale test track in the Nevada desert, and it is also conducting feasibility studies with governments in Russia, Finland and Dubai.