Hyperloop One

​​A few weeks back, Hyperloop One revealed a prototype of a pod that it hopes will eventually ferry passengers through near-vacuum tubes at around the speed of sound. Today, the company has announced the first successful tests of this futuristic capsule.

​​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, which including levitating a test vehicle over a track for 5.3 seconds.

As part of its globe-spanning ambitions to introduce partial vacuum transportation to the masses,​ Hyperloop One has added another nine potential routes in Europe as a result of the start up's Global Challenge.

With a few different players now in the game, the race is on to get the Hyperloop up and running. For LA-based startup Hyperloop One, that means rolling into Dubai with photos of its full-scale test track and a few renderings of what the first Middle Eastern Hyperloop stations might look like.​​

Although Hyperloop One has been quick to raise funds, grow its staff and demo its basic tech, we've still been offered little idea of what its Hyperloop might look like. Danish architect BIG has given us a glimpse of a system conceived to integrate with society and infrastructure.

Hyperloop could be heading to the Middle East, thanks to a new deal signed on Monday. The partnership calls for a feasibility study of how the nascent, ultra-fast transport technology could improve Dubai's Jebel Ali Port, but both parties hope that's just the beginning.

Hyperloop board member Peter Diamandis has confirmed in an interview with "Business Insider" that the company is interested in producing an underwater version of its tube transportation system.

Hyperloop One, the proposed faster-than-airplane transport system, has presented a study highlighting the economic feasibility and benefits of creating a route between the Finnish capital, Helsinki, and the Swedish capital, Stockholm.

One day, a new Silk Road might exist between China and Europe – and it should be a lot more secure and only take a day to move goods between the two regions. That's at least one of the idealized goals of a new partnership announced between Hyperloop One and Russian company The Summa Group today.