Elon Musk wasn't the first with a futuristic idea. The transportation industry has seen a mixed bag of game-changing technologies and utter failures.

Elon Musk wasn't the first to come up with a visionary transportation scheme.

Engineering students come up with a hyperloop pod that floats on air.

Dutch company Hardt Hyperloop is developing the technology, which involves a pod that floats using magnetic levitation being pushed through a steel tube maintained at a partial vacuum.

Hyperloop One successfully tested its propulsion system in the Nevada desert. It's an important step, but the journey to making the Hyperloop a reality has just begun.

Hyperloop: a bunch of tubes, right? Well, that, plus some crazy engineering, magnetic levitation, giant vacuums and yep, tubes that could someday fling us around at near supersonic speeds.

The Hyperloop is one step closer to becoming a reality. If it works, the new form of transportation could mean a journey from LA to San Francisco would take just 50 minutes.

Ride a pod down the Tron-like pipes of Hyperloop One, which just took a big stride toward the day it flings you between cities in near-vacuum tubes.

Leading hyperloop competitor Virgin Hyperloop One set a new benchmark in the Nevada desert.