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Tech

Lexus Spent Over a Year Building a Hoverboard and Now You Can See It in Action

Leave a cloud of liquid nitrogen smoke wherever you go.
Rachel Pick
New York, US

Hoverboards are here! (Sort of.)

Lexus finally revealed its long-hyped hoverboard project yesterday, in a promotional video featuring pro skateboarder Ross McGouran.

In the making for over a year, the Lexus hoverboard is a feat of magnetic levitation, using superconductors, magnets, and a metal-lined skate park ("hoverpark") to achieve antigravity. The superconductors use liquid nitrogen to reach their superconductive temperature, so the hoverboard is also constantly spewing smoke, like a personal fog machine.

It takes a while for McGouran to get the hang of hoverboarding, though I can't say I blame him. "I started skating when I was about 7 or 8," he says in this making-of video. "It literally feels like I'm starting all over again from the beginning." He does pretty well, ending the video with a totally badass jump over a moving Lexus.

Lexus' hoverboard may not quite be Jetsons material, but it's still wicked cool.