There’s been a lot of talk about hoverboards lately, but the actual hovering mechanisms have all been a bit of a letdown. This one takes a different approach.
Instead of trying to make you hover, it recreates the sensation of hovering. The Hoverboard has one big wheel in the middle, and thanks to a self-balancing system that uses “ground-contacting sonar”,
Its specs are certainly impressive. It has a range of 12 miles, which should be enough to get most people to work and back. And with a top speed of 16mph, it’s roughly four times the average walking pace. It charges at a rate of 1.5 miles a minute, and weighs 25lbs (11kg).
It promises to be simple to ride too. You tilt forward to accelerate, back to brake, and to the side to turn. And that’s it.
Using an app, you can activate your Hoverboard, check the charge level, set a speed limit, lock it so no one else can ride it, log your riding data, protect it from theft, customise the lightning and LED bar graphs and play music and customise the sound.
Read more: Watch: The Lexus Hoverboard is finally here
It looks very cool, but as ever with these things, it all comes down to what it’s like to ride. Fingers crossed we’ll get a go on one soon.
It’s raised $79,000 of a $500,000 funding goal, and has 23 days to go. If successful, it will ship in July next year and cost $3,775 (£2,479).
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.