On Wednesday, Lexus unveiled a Hoverboard concept as part of their ongoing Amazing In Motion campaign to showcase their engineering creativity. As soon as the concept was shown, blogs lit up with references to the popular 1980s Back To the Future films. Specifically the second installment, which featured Michael J Fox flying around a future landscape on a hovering skateboard.
The reality, of course, is a little more mundane than Hollywood portrayed. The Lexus Hoverboard is mostly a design exercise and works only in specific situations where its magnetic levitation can work. Similar to a mag-lev train, the Hoverboard requires specific conditions to operate. Even the promo video to introduce it doesn’t actually show anyone riding it.
Lexus plans to test it in Barcelona, Spain in the next few weeks.
