A US firm says it has successfully conducted a first public test of its ultra-high speed transportation system.
Hyperloop One aims to whisk passengers through a low-pressure tube at speeds of up to 750mph (1,207 km/h).
In Wednesday's seconds-long test, the start-up accelerated a test vehicle known as a "sled" down a 1,500ft rail track in the desert near Las Vegas.
Hyperloop One says the sled neared 400mph, but it says the same motor could enable a more aerodynamic vehicle to top 700mph in a friction-less tube.
Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk was first to propose the futuristic idea, arguing it would be faster and more efficient than high-speed rail projects
He envisaged such a system would run between Los Angeles and San Francisco in as little as half an hour - it currently takes about eight hours by train.
But early applications for hyperloop could focus on ports, replacing the lorries and freight trains that transport cargo from ships to factories and stores.
Under the design, electromagnetic propulsion technology would levitate the pods on a small cushion of air in the fully autonomous, electric-powered system.
Hyperloop One has just announced it raised $80m (£55m) in funding from investors including France's state-owned railway company, SNCF.
The Los Angeles-based company is led by Brogan BamBrogan, venture capitalist Shervin Pishevar and ex-Cisco president Rob Lloyd.
Its crowdsourced rival, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, is also racing to be first to perfect the same system.
Last month, it signed a deal with the Slovakian government to build a hyperloop between Slovenia with Austria and Hungary.
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