Hoverboard: The test

The BBC’s Richard Taylor tests out a hoverboard that uses magnetic levitation. Until now hoverboards have largely been the stuff of science fiction, popularised by movies like Back to the Future 2, in which Marty McFly rode a flying skateboard to get around. But now a Silicon Valley startup has just won crowdfunding for a real-world hoverboard – the first able to carry a load and not constrained to rails. It uses magnetic levitation – creating a magnetic field underneath the board which is repelled by a non-ferrous surface like iron underneath – allowing the board to levitate. The founders of the Hendo hoverboard say while they wanted to create a buzz around their prototype the real goal is far more ambitious still: to isolate objects and even entire buildings from earthquakes and other ground shocks.
Our North America technology correspondent Richard Taylor took the board through its paces and spoke to founder Greg Henderson.
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