Virgin Hyperloop has proven that passengers can safely travel in a hyperloop pod with its first BIG-designed pod passenger test. “For the past few years, the Virgin Hyperloop team has been working on turning its groundbreaking technology into reality,” said Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group. “With today’s successful test, we have shown that this spirit of innovation will in fact change the way people everywhere live, work, and travel in the years to come.”

Taking place in Virgin Hyperloop’s 500-meter DevLoop test site, Las Vegas, the test had the first people in the world ride on the new form of transportation. Those lucky two passengers were Josh Giegel, co-founder and CTO; and Sara Luchian, director of passenger experience, both looking thrilled to be there. They made their maiden voyage on the newly-unveiled XP-2 vehicle, designed by BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group and Kilo Design.

Conducted in a small 2-seater XP-2 vehicle, the test demonstrated that passengers can in fact travel safely in a hyperloop pod. The actual production one will be larger and seat up to 28 passengers. Having undergone a rigorous and exhaustive safety process, the XP-2 vehicle demonstrates many of the safety-critical systems that will be found on a commercial hyperloop system and is equipped with a state-of-the-art control system, which will detect off-nominal states and rapidly trigger appropriate emergency responses.

“I can’t tell you how often I get asked ‘is hyperloop safe?’,” comments Jay Walder, CEO of Virgin Hyperloop. “With today’s passenger testing, we have successfully answered this question, demonstrating that not only can Virgin Hyperloop safely put a person in a pod in a vacuum environment, but that the company has a thoughtful approach to safety which has been validated by an independent third party.”

Virgin Hyperloop is the only company in the world that has successfully tested hyperloop technology at scale until now.

Images by Virgin Hyperloop via designboom