Lexus Builds a Functional Hoverboard Prototype

It looks like Lexus is getting into the flying car game by first introducing a flying Hoverboard like in the movie Back to the Future. Lexus is apparently not releasing information until Oct 21, 2015 which is the same date that Marty McFly and his girlfriend went "Back to the Future."

The automaker has hinted it’s looking into flying cars. Now its Lexus luxury brand has actually built a working model of a hoverboard. That’s right, an actual working hoverboard. It’s real, but not for sale. Yet.
The board uses liquid nitrogen-cooled superconductors and magnets, according to the Lexus website. The technology is already zooming around Toyota's home country. A Japanese railway company last year set a new world speed record using a magnetic-levitation train. Toyota tipped its hand a year ago that it’s been experimenting with this for cars.

Kinda cool, ATS. I wonder why it;s taken so long for this to happen; well, I think we all know but that's another thread. One thing's for sure: If an automotive giant such as Lexus is getting into the Flying Car. Hoverboard business that the others won't be far behind. Soon our skies may be filled with flying vehicles. What says ATS?

www.bloomberg.com...

At some point in a mans life he must say "Money is just an object, therefore I should spend it on this super awesome thing". and so I became broke thanks to lexus

a reply to: lostbook

Great another vehicle for idiots to text and phone from while they car-een out of control.

a reply to: lostbook

Would it only hover over a metal "road" or grid since it evidently uses magnets to repel (hover) itself?

If so, that would not be a new concept. I purchased my granddaughter a little globe gadget several years ago that hovered freely over the base unit. They can be found on the internet.

More details would help dim the speculation from this quarter at least.

This is the skatepark Lexus built for its real hoverboard

Yesterday, Lexus said it had built a hoverboard. The company invoked the science of magnetic levitation and superconducting magnets, but left it at that. Lexus was teasing us with as little information as possible. The idea seemed plausible, though, with the one major caveat being that the person operating this superconducting skateboard would need a magnetic track to hover over, something that wasn't visible in the video.

Now, Spanish website El Patín has discovered that the the park in the ad is real, and in the pictures that it's being built in Cubelles, a village outside of Barcelona. More importantly, we can clearly see a metal track embedded in the ground of the unfinished park. The writer at El Patin says that the park's been under construction for about a month, and that it's patrolled by private security 24 hours a day.

Its been done before, but I've never seen anyone create a fully fledged park for the damn thing. I guess the future has to start somewhere.

It will be no different than the supercooled "quantum levitation" tech they currently have with models. This will just be big enough that you can stand on it.
You won't be able to purchase one and hover down the roads.

youtu.be...

I wish it was real. There won't be flying cars or boards from mag lev setups unfortunately.

Nothing like the movie anyway. They just levitate slightly above a repelling surface. That park has magnets poured into the concrete. The other problem with this tech, is it wouldn't stay in a straight line, it would be all over the place without a rail to keep it in line, you would need something crazy like small booster jets on each side to control it, or conventional wheels.

That park is designed for it, with the berms for turning, etc. It would be fun. I don't see it ever making it to a normal road surface. Too expensive and too unstable.

Now on a rail or inside a tube would be another thing for mag lev. Almost zero rolling resistance. I think pressurized tube mag lev would be the way to go ultra fast and not worry about collisions or derailment.

originally posted by: soulpowertothendegree
a reply to: lostbook

Great another vehicle for idiots to text and phone from while they car-een out of control.

Actually, this could easily lead to self-driving hover cars--if you've ever watched any videos on this type of levitation, they can follow a track on their own while suspended in air.

Don't be so pessimistic...sheesh.

a reply to: lostbook

Are movies just prophecies?

a reply to: bluetrees

That's a hoax just so you know..

This is a skateboard on rails? Basically a kids carnival train ride through the xgames? Super fun! Not...

Superconductivity? Makes sense.

originally posted by: onequestion
a reply to: lostbook

Are movies just prophecies?

It sure seems that way doesn't it?

Based onthe video, it'd be like going to the skating rink and getting the hoverboard experience. Assuming the video I watch is genuine, they want to allow the rider to change directions easier. As it's it goes on its own, so the user doesn't have much control until they push on a surface.

Awfully expensvie skating ring though.

I'm talking abou this video of the Hendo which is probably simnilar to what Lexus has--assuming Lexus is being honest:
And this:
www.theverge.com - I rode a hoverboard designed to save buildings from earthquakes and floods...

a reply to: eisegesis

Looks to me as though all they've done is spend a hell of a lot of money scaling up the superconducting levitation presentation hundreds of thousands of students get to see every year in universities all around the world...

This is not a breakthrough or a scientific advance, it's still nothing more than what any university can already do on a tabletop.

Not a hoverboard but how about a Star Wars style Land Speeder:

a reply to: JadeStar

Yes, I saw that a while back. Super cool!