Hyperloop One set a new company record when it reached a blistering 242 mph outside of Las Vegas on DubbedFriday — and days later, it gained a famous billionaire.
The company named Richard Branson its chairman on Monday, rebranding itself as Virgin Hyperloop One, Axios reports. It hopes to one day zip commuters across the country at 700 mph.
Virgin Hyperloop One's previous tests in the Mojave Desert clearly impressed the global airline tycoon, who has helped secure over $100 million in funding for the company since October.
The most recent test, which the company released video of on Monday, shows the pod reaching 50 mph faster than its previous record of 192 mph.
The sealed tube the pods travel in enable the sleek vehicles to reach such high speeds. The concept for any hyperloop is sucking the air out of the tube, leaving a nearly airless, frictionless environment for travel. In this case, Virgin Hyperloop One said in a statement that they achieved an "equivalent air pressure experienced at 200,000 feet above sea level."
These milestones are impressive, but perhaps the greatest hurdle to realizing a hyperloop is successfully building sealed off vacuum-tubes hundreds of miles long -- or longer. Virgin Hyperloop One's current test track, Devloop, is 1,620 feet long, a little under one-third of a mile.
But with a longer distance will come more speed. This will require the company to substantially expand their test track -- and then make sure they can seal it off. Fortunately for them, a billionaire with deep pockets has joined their team.
Topics Innovations
Previous：The Saran-Wrapped Soul
Next：After the Fire
Complicity, Not Tyranny
Elon Musk teases 'unexpected' new Tesla product
Ken Bone was the light in the dark second presidential debate tunnel
Walking Dead Season 7 premiere: Rick's alive, but will he lose a hand?
Battle of the Brands
This Donald Trump animal comparison will make you feel a bit sick
Walking Dead Season 7 premiere: Rick's alive, but will he lose a hand?
Rudy Giuliani stumped when attempting to defend Donald Trump on 'Meet The Press'
The Poor Under Attack
Bisquick's tone
Here are some good words we didn’t write
Rudy Giuliani stumped when attempting to defend Donald Trump on 'Meet The Press'
This guy just asked Trump and Clinton the ultimate question
Here are the teams in the 'League of Legends' Worlds quarterfinals
The Musk of Success
This is the guy convincing your company to let you use Facebook at work
The second presidential debate, told through Hillary Clinton's faces
Watch Tiffany Trump avoid her father's awkward big kiss
News from Nowhere Episode 10
Former MLB star Curt Schilling made a hella good point about poopholes during the debate
Plain White T's 'Hey There Delilah' is becoming a TV showKim Kardashian West tweets her support of the Democrat gun control sitThe InfoWars app is still alive and well in the App Store and Google PlayRedditor claims they had to call police after window salesman wouldn't leave their houseMan is fed up of immigration debate, buys his own newspaper adJohnny Depp's Notorious B.I.G. movie disappears from release scheduleThis teacher used apples to make a devastating point about bullyingFCC claims of DDoS net neutrality attack were 'bogus'Apple removes podcasts from InfoWars' Alex Jones on iTunesBitcoin payments at Starbucks aren't happening anytime soonTesla wants to buy SolarCity for $2.8 billion'League of Legends' developers accused of fostering culture of sexismCalifornia's Mendocino fire becomes the state's largest in historyU.S. Defense Department developing tools to catch deepfakesThe latest beauty craze? FullDogs throw raging summer luau party in pool full of tennis ballsTeen prankster accidentally traps herself in large, horrifying Barney headBear makes trespassing cute by jumping into a private poolHackers steal frequentYour next laptop might have a 4TB SSD, thanks to Samsung Don't let new 'Efail' vulnerability put your encrypted mail at risk FCC traces 96 million spammy robocalls to one Florida man Google pausing Chrome 66 autoplay blocker after developer complaints Loads of delicious cookie dough spilled onto a North Carolina highway The rise and fall of lawn darts Billie Lourd reached out to everyone having a tough Mother's Day with a photo of Carrie Fisher Japanese railway company apologises for train leaving 25 seconds early Google just slashed the price on its massive storage plans with Google One upgrade Nickelodeon's 'Slime Zone' lets kids meet Spongebob in virtual reality Musk says latest Tesla crash isn't 'front page news,' but it is because of Autopilot Critics enjoy 'Solo: A Star Wars Story' even if it's not legendary We Are Film Directors highlights 100 women and minority filmmakers Twitter tests a way to minimize the voices of trolls Butt rip jeans are the latest terrible jeans trend that we definitely never needed Read an exclusive excerpt of Markus Zusak's new novel 'Bridge of Clay' Yanny or Laurel? According to Google, it's Laurel. There's a 'Deadpool 2' Taylor Swift easter egg you definitely missed 5 times Boston Dynamics robots scared the sh*t out of us Amazon Go cashier Mysterious blockchain