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Hoverboard alert: Lexus may have made a hoverboard

25 Jun 2015

Lexus - Hoverboard

The Lexus Hoverboard – all images via Lexus

It turns out if you wish as hard as you can for something, and have a particular environment loaded with magnets on the ground, Lexus just might be able to make you a hoverboard.

The car company has released an incredibly tantalising teaser video that shows its device levitating just above the ground, cutting away before anyone stands on it.

The year is significant, for those who haven’t realised, as 2015 is the year when Marty McFly went Back to the Future for the second time, discovering things like self-tying shoes, self-drying jackets, Skype and hoverboards.

The latter of which we all have yearned for ever since.

“At Lexus, we constantly challenge ourselves and our partners to push the boundaries of what is possible,” said Mark Templin, executive vice president of Lexus International.

“That determination, combined with our passion and expertise for design and innovation, is what led us to take on the Hoverboard project.”

Lexus Hoverboard

I’m not convinced yet because, well, I’ve been too quick to accept claims like this before. There isn’t a hoverboard creation story that I haven’t at first thought, ‘Yep, finally nailed it’.

But let’s take a look at what Lexus is showing us, anyway.

The hoverboard is snazzy, wooden and cool. It is hovering over concrete in the video, however Lexus has claimed there are magnets placed below the surface to help its placing, which works thanks to liquid nitrogen-cooled superconductors and permanent magnets.

“It’s the perfect example of the amazing things that can be achieved when you combine technology, design and imagination.”

Lexus Hoverboard

In other Back to the Future news, Nike claims it’s bringing out self-tying shoes this year.

Marketing genius or engineering feat, the public have certainly taken notice.

Related: hoverboards

Gordon Hunt was a journalist with Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com