Josh Giegel, CTO and Co-Founder, and Sara Luchian, Director, Passenger Experience, ride without a hitch
Transportation history was recently made today in the Nevada desert, where Virgin Hyperloop tested human travel in a hyperloop pod for the first time.
“For the past few years, the Virgin Hyperloop team has been working on turning its ground breaking technology into reality,” remarked Sir Richard Branson, Founder of the Virgin Group on this occasion.
Josh Giegel, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer, and Sara Luchian, Director of Passenger Experience, were the first people in the world to ride on this new form of transportation. The test took place at Virgin Hyperloop’s 500m DevLoop test site in Las Vegas, where the company has previously run over 400 unoccupied tests.
“Today, we took one giant leap toward that ultimate dream, not only for me, but for all of us who are looking towards a moonshot right here on Earth,” remarked Giegel.
“Hyperloop is about so much more than the technology. It’s about what it enables,” noted Sara Luchian.
The occupants made their maiden voyage on the newly-unveiled XP-2 vehicle which was custom-built with occupant safety and comfort in mind.
Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Chairman, Virgin Hyperloop, watched this historic passenger testing first-hand.
“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,” commented Jay Walder, CEO, Virgin Hyperloop.
