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Journalism of Courage
Luxury car-maker Lexus recently unveiled a video which showcases an actual Hoverboard called Slide. Lexus’ video has gone viral with over 6 million views.
According to Lexus’ page for ‘Slide’ the Hoverboard “uses magnetic levitation to achieve amazing frictionless movement.” The page goes on to note that “liquid nitrogen cooled superconductors and permanent magnets combine to allow Lexus to create the impossible.”
The ‘Hoverboard’ by Lexus has of course got tech geeks excited all over and if you’re a ‘Back to The Future’ fan, you are likely one of those who got excited by the video.
Wired even has a piece explaining how such an hoverboard could work. According to the article on Wired because Lexus has opted for a superconductor, this creates a different kind of magnetic field, one that does not die away . You can read more on the physics of that here.
Magnets aside, the Lexus video does not really tell us much about if and when the ‘Slide’ hoverboard will really hit the market. As this piece on BGR points out, Lexus has clarified that it isn’t looking to build a widely available hoverboard just yet.
Lexus spokesperson Maurice Dumand was quoted by BGR.com as saying, “Back to the Future messed my whole generation up. The world so desperately wants someone to mass produce a hoverboard. Let’s be frank, it’s not novel. There are other hoverboards. To a degree, we weren’t expecting [the reaction].”
In short, BTTF fans should calm down. While the Lexus hoverboard is ‘real’, it’s not hitting the stores anytime soon.
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