Two days ago, the team at Hyperloop announced the successful inaugural test run of their first autonomous pod.

They say they achieved historic test speeds while travelling nearly the full distance of the 500-meter DevLoop track in the Nevada desert. The Hyperloop One XP-1, the company’s first-generation pod, accelerated for 300 meters and glided above the track using magnetic levitation before braking and coming to a gradual stop.

“This is the beginning, and the dawn of a new era of transportation,” said Shervin Pishevar, Executive Chairman and Co-founder of Hyperloop One. “We’ve reached historic speeds of 310 km an hour, and we’re excited to finally show the world the XP-1 going into the Hyperloop One tube. When you hear the sound of the Hyperloop One, you hear the sound of the future.”

…which got me wondering. What does that sound like?

(I have asked them, but no answer yet.)

The best I can come up with is the sound at 1′ 18″ on the Hyperloop Explained video, but I don’t know how authentic or ‘imagined’ it is.

With Hyperloop One, passengers and cargo are loaded into a pod, and accelerate gradually via electric propulsion through a low-pressure tube. The pod quickly lifts above the track using magnetic levitation and glides at airline speeds for long distances due to ultra-low aerodynamic drag.

Hyperloop One achieved “record speeds” (you have to ask: if this is the first and only such system being tested, isn’t every increase in speed going to be a record?!), in a tube depressurized down to the equivalent of air at 200,000 feet above sea level. All components of the system were successfully tested, including the highly efficient electric motor, advanced controls and power electronics, custom magnetic levitation and guidance, pod suspension and vacuum system.

I think it’s pretty cool tech, and really could be revolutionary if it can reach the planned speeds reliably, economically & safely.