Lexus has built an actual hoverboard

By topgear ,

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Lexus has today revealed it is working on a prototype hoverboard. If you are familiar with a particular movie franchise of the late 1980s, this should make you deliriously happy.

Yep, Lexus's project team has collaborated with "experts in super-conductive technology" to build an actual, working, real-life hoverboard. No joke.

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They tell us the team is using magnetic levitation with liquid nitrogen-cooled super-conductors and permanent magnets to "give the hoverboard frictionless movement of a kind that had been thought impossible".

Impossible? Not unless you've watched Back to the Future II several, several times.

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Lexus tells us the hoverboard shares some design cues with the current Lexus range of cars - including that 'Predator' style spindle grille. It apparently features materials sourced from Lexus's road car range, though whether it'll boast a curiously old-school digital clock remains unclear.

The hoverboard is planned as a one-off, sadly, and won't be put up for sale. But who cares? They'll be testing the prototype in Barcelona over the next few weeks, ahead of a summer launch.

Check the video to see a teaser of the technology in action: a teaser, admittedly, that doesn't show a whole lot in the way of hovery, skatey action.

But that's fine, because they've got until October 21, 2015 to get it all ready. Now, all we need is a flying DeLorean and a flux capacitor...