The age of personal transportation that can fly appears to be upon us, though it’s a few decades later than science fiction would have had us believe. Even so, it’s great to see that it’s finally happening. Flying cars are still a ways off, though they’re in testing all over the place, but hoverbikes and hoverboards… those are also coming.
A company called Malloy Aeronautics, which is based in the UK, is hoping to build a full-scale hoverbike – along the lines of the speeders from Star Trek, if not quite as streamlined – with a Kickstarter project raising £64,089 (R1.23 million) for the company.
In the prototype phase at present, Malloy’s Hoverbike Helicopter is based on drones. They have used a BMW motorcycle engine to power their test models in the past and have also based their control methods on a motorcycle as well. If they can pull this off, personal flight will have gotten a whole lot simpler. We’d still expect it to be prohibitively expensive though.
Right now Malloy are working with the American military who are very interested in the idea, to hear the company tell it. It’s still not controlled-flight ready though, but you can get your hands on one of the drone prototypes if you’re so minded.
And then there’s the hoverboard. Ever since the famous hoax last year, hoverboards have kept pitching up in one form or another. There’s another company on the bandwagon now and they’ve got enough cash to throw at making such a gadget a reality.
Lexus have dropped a teaser video for a hoverboard, imaginatively called the Lexus Hoverboard. According to the official website, this maglev board uses “(l)iquid nitrogen cooled superconductors and permanent magnets” in order to stay levitating but there’s still a catch. A specialised metal surface will be required to ride this one, like others we’ve seen, meaning you’re going to need to visit a park if you want to get your float (and gloat) on.
We also haven’t seen it in motion yet but we can expect more from the company in the next few weeks. They’re going to be milking their Hoverboard for a while.
Source: The Guardian, Lexus
