We all remember Hendo very well, and recently we learned about the world record for the longest hoverboard flight. But October 2015 is approaching, and the truth is I don't see anyone riding a skateboard twenty centimeters off the ground. Out of nowhere, Lexus appears. The car manufacturer released a short video, less than 40 seconds to be precise. A skateboard seems to float in the air, and the vapor gives away the presence of liquid nitrogen. Lexus Hover. Did they actually do it...?
The Hoverboard Obsession
More than one person must have wondered why there is such an obsession with the hoverboard. It's the same obsession that makes us desire the Mr. Fusion, the Holodeck, the Death Star, flying cars, and a huge number of other things. Those who breathe science fiction didn't just learn about it last year; they grew up with it. Such people know the dialogues by heart. They can recognize and differentiate ships that at first glance all look the same. They perfectly understand the technology of their favorite universes and accept their limitations. But reality tends to be cruel. The Death Star costs 850 trillion dollars. The closest thing we have to holograms are projection tricks. Cold fusion is nothing more than a promise, and flying cars struggle between design problems and lack of funding. But we want a hoverboard. Even if the only thing we can do with it is end up crashing against a wall, we want it.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/7zTCgMPZRuoInterpreting the Video
How to interpret this new Lexus video? A bad joke? No, April 1st is already behind us, and we are far from April Fools' Day. A publicity stunt? Maybe. Competition among car manufacturers is very tough, and any move seems valid these days. However, let's think about the most outrageous thing for a moment. Let's consider the extremely remote possibility that Lexus cracked the hoverboard equation and created a real unit, capable of floating on any surface. The presence of vapor around the hoverboard tells us it needs liquid nitrogen, meaning we are looking at a platform that combines magnets and superconductors. That would imply that the Lexus Hover requires a magnetic surface like any other hoverboard, and what the video shows is a simple lie.
Lexus anticipated that there will be more videos about its development, and despite the doubts, we will be waiting for them eagerly. The only solid data the company provided was the development time: 18 months, split between two teams based in Germany and the United Kingdom. As always in these cases, I hope I'm wrong, and that the Lexus Hover is something real.
