We’re unusually excited about the idea of the Lexus Hoverboard, and that’s probably because it’s the supreme wish fulfillment at the heart of all of our Marty McFly dreams. But also, because it’s a goddamn hoverboard. At Lexus’ test rider, pro skateboarder Ross McGouran, says it feels unlike anything else.
“It literally feels like I’m starting all over again from the beginning,” says McGouran, which is mildly alarming for a guy whose made riding skateboards an actual career. But that’s a bit understandable, as before now the idea of a hoverboard was really just a bit of a dream.
Not that it’s that crazy of a dream. We’ve had the basic concept of the technology for a while, it’s just that no one’s gone through the massive expense and engineering legwork to get it done. The system, for the most part, appears like it works like a scaled-up version of this supercooled superconducting magnet:
Unfortunately, McGouran didn’t give us much of a description of what it’s actually like, beyond “it’s never been done before,” which isn’t much.
To find out more, we’ll just have to ride it ourselves.
Which might just be what we actually did.
Stay tuned.
Contact the author at ballaban@jalopnik.com.
Public PGP key
PGP fingerprint: 0D03 F37B 4C96 021E 4292 7B12 E080 0D0B 5968 F14E