Remember when we told you that Lexus – yes, Lexus the car company – claimed to have built a real, functional hoverboard? And then remember when you were all like, “No way!” and we were like, “Well, they seem pretty serious about it,” and then you were like, “Whatever, it’s clearly a marketing gimmick,” and then we were like, “No, we looked into it. Why would we lie to you? Is that actually what you think of us after everything we’ve done for you?” and then you were all like, “No no, we didn’t mean it like that; of course we love you and appreciate you, but a real hoverboard? No way,” and we were like, “Whatever.”
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Well, as of yesterday, yes way; Lexus just launched Slide, their first functional hoverboard. And here’s a video to prove it:
Yup, that’s a bunch of people hovering over flat concrete, water, ramps and rails a-la Marty McFly, minus the auto-fit nipple-pattern jacket.
How does it work, you ask? Here’s the Coles Notes: it involves liquid nitrogen (the steam you see) cooling components of the board to a chilly -196 degrees Celsius so that they become superconducting, then teaming up with magnets to fend off gravity and lift the board off the ground.
“Magnets?” you might ask as you squint and turn the wheels. So ya, that’s the big catch: there needs to be metal under or on a surface in order for the board to hover above it.
So you won’t be riding one of these to work anytime soon since atop 99% of a city’s landscape, this will end up being a designer cricket bat.
That being said, it does work in the right environment and you have to admit, it is pretty f***ing cool. No word on when or if it will be available to the public for purchase, but if they eventually start selling them on Amazon, we’ll officially know we’re in the future when drones start delivering hoverboards.
Here’s another video that explains the work and technology behind the board:
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