Back to the Future Palate Cleanser: The Hoverboard. It's Finally Here!

[teapartysamurai]

There are, in reality, three technologies that Americans want from the future. One is a tricorder. That’s already in the works. The second is flying cars. That looks dodgy, but driverless cars are a nice consolation prize. The third, of course, is an honest-to-goodness “Back to the Future” style hoverboard.

Estimated arrival date: October 21, 2015, the very day that Marty arrives in the future in BTTF II. Engadget actually got to ride a prototype.

It levitates just an inch off the ground and only then over non-ferrous metallic surfaces like aluminum, but it’s stable enough to support a grown man once he’s gotten his bearings. In theory, says the designer, the technology could be used to levitate whole buildings in earthquake zones to protect them when a temblor strikes. But he needed a proof of concept to grab Americans’ (i.e. potential investors’) attention before he started working on that, so naturally he focused on pop-culture detritus. The man knows his audience. Ingenious.

How many technologies from BTTF have been produced now, anyway? Marty’s futuristic sneakers have been in the fine-tuning process for awhile. Nike unveiled a prototype three years ago, albeit without the self-tying power laces; the laces are still in development, though, and should be ready by next year. Presumably the size-adjusting jacket is in the works out there somewhere too. And of course, Lockheed Martin is in the earliest stages of the Mr. Fusion power supply that’ll have us all time traveling by, oh, let’s say 2030 or so. I’m going to travel back to the early part of the last decade and convince Mike Ditka to run for Senate. America’s problems: Solved.

Video The only technology that Americans really wanted from the future will soon be real Hot Air

Now that's a contraption, I want to get to ride!