The hoverboard is real — and you can ride it

The hoverboard is real — and you can ride it

Rumors of a Back to the Future-style hoverboard have circled the internet for years, but Engadget reports that hoverboards really do exist. And they would know: Engadget's associate editor Sean Buckley apparently rode one.

The hoverboard in question was created by Arx Pax, a California startup. Arx Pax created a Kickstarter crowdfunding project for the Hendo Hoverboard, which it's billing as "the world's first REAL hoverboard." The company claims it invented a new hover engine technology that will allow users to ride "a self-powered, levitating platform with enough power to lift a fully grown adult," Engadget reports.

The Hendo Hoverboard uses hover engines to create an electromagnetic field that will levitate above non-ferrous, conducting metals, such as copper or aluminum. So while you won't be able to hover above any surface, in the right circumstances, you, too, can be like Marty McFly. Arx Pax has plans to build a hoverpark, too, where you'll be able to hover around to your heart's content.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

For now, $299 will get you a Hendo hover engine as well as a small hover surface. And the first 10 Kickstarter backers to give $10,000 for the Hendo Hoverboard will get their own hoverboards, which will be delivered on Oct. 21, 2015 — the same date Marty McFly arrives in the future.

Explore More

Meghan DeMaria is a staff writer at TheWeek.com. She has previously worked for USA Today and Marie Claire.