Hyperloop Technologies employees outside their headquarters in downtown LA. Facebook/Hyperloop Tech The Hyperloop will become a reality in 2016, Hyperloop Technologies CEO Rob Lloyd claimed recently.

The LA-based Hyperloop startup has spent more than a year developing its technology and plans to ramp up testing over the next few months with the goal of finishing its test track by the end of next year, Lloyd told CNBC during an interview at the Web Summit in Dublin.

The Hyperloop, of course, is the futuristic mode of transportation that consists of passenger pods traveling through tubes at speeds of more than 500 miles per hour.

In January, Lloyd’s company will start its first tests on its propulsion system in an outdoor environment, he said. So far the motor system has only been tested in a closed environment.

“This company is moving so quickly, it’s astounding what we accomplish in days as weeks go by we make increasingly significant progress,” Lloyd said.

“We’ll be moving our first test system 400 miles per hour and all of that test system comes together in 2016 as we prove our own Kitty Hawk moment in moving this capability as an architecture at 700 miles per hour for a couple miles.”

Hyperloop Technologies announced Lloyd, a former Cisco executive, would be joining the company in September. The company also revealed at the time that it was working to close an $80 million round of funding.

Lloyd told CNBC that he expects to have the round of funding complete by the end of this year.

Assuming the company closes the round, the company plans to complete construction of its Hyperloop test track by the end of 2016 or in early 2017.

“There is a global movement that seems to be happening that says we want something different and we believe Hyperloop can be part of the solution in the future," Lloyd said.

YouTube/Hyperloop Technologies

Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, which is another California-based startup working on the technology, also said it plans to complete its test track in the next two years.

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk first revealed the Hyperloop concept in 2013, but he made research open source so other entrepreneurs could pursue commercial development of the futuristic rail system.

However, Musk’s rocket company SpaceX is hosting a Hyperloop Pod competition beginning early next year. The contest, which is aimed at college students, is meant to help find the perfect passenger pod design for the system.

SpaceX is planning to complete a one-mile test track by June so selected participants can test their pod design.

Check out Lloyd's interview below.