Lexus Enters The Hoverboard Game
Late in 2014, we brought you news of the Hendo Hoverboard being the first real hoverboard to be in existence that began through a Kickstarter campaign. It wowed us because the thing actually hovered off the ground. A few months later, skateboard legend Tony Hawk got a chance to shred with the Hendo Hoverboard and gave it his seal of approval. Now, automobile powerhouse Lexus has thrown its hat into the game, and what they have to offer with their version of the hoverboard looks downright gorgeous.
Observe at how it floats and looks like a hoverboard that Biff from Back To The Future couldn’t possibly think to afford in his manure filled life. What makes this hoverboard different from the hoverboard we’ve seen amaze us earlier this year?
The hoverboard uses magnetic levitation with liquid nitrogen-cooled superconductors and permanent magnets to give the hoverboard “frictionless movement” of a kind that had been thought impossible, according to Lexus.
“It’s the perfect example of the amazing things that can be achieved when you combine technology, design and imagination,”said Mark Templin, executive vice president of Lexus International. (Via)
The hoverboard looks great, but like the Hendo version, you’re going to need a special metal conductive surface below the board to hover off the ground. And more bad news, it looks like we won’t be getting a chance to ride this bad boy anytime soon since this is only a prototype in development now. Can’t we just have the hoverboard now? We’ve waited for so long, and out Back To The Future II DVD’s are being worn down in anticipation.
Hopefully in a few years, we’ll be seeing Super Bowl ads showing competing versions of the hoverboard available to the public.
FOLLOW JEFF SORENSEN ON TWITTER
Jeff Sorensen is an author, writer and occasional comedian living in Detroit, Michigan. You can look for more of his work on The Huffington Post, UPROXX, BGR and by just looking up his name.
Contact: jeff@socialunderground.com