Leave it to a Russian/San Francisco aero-design company to create something straight out of Return of the Jedi.
Hoversurf, based out of SF and Moscow, just released a trailer promoting their Scorpion-3, a human-carrying drone hoverbike contraption that looks like it should be in Back To The Future II. Unfortunately the impressive tech also looks like it could sever a head at any given moment.
The hoverbike has a beautiful design, and most importantly, it actually works! It also has four rotors that could turn your face into oblivion.
The company’s website describes the Scorpion, which started as a crowd-funding project, as a:
“unique electric-powered vessel combining a motorcycle seat with quadcopter drone technology bringing speed agility and stability flight to the hands of amateur and professional navigators.” Its software allows for fully manual and automated control. It’s exciting stuff, but don’t expect to see the hoverbikes on your local expressway anytime soon. For now, Hoversurf sees it as an “extreme sports instrument,” though it adds that its potential for transportation “remains evident.”
Hoversurf is also attempting to develop the world’s first commercial drone taxi, hoping to launch by next year under a platform called MARK-S.
No matter what happens, if this drone tech really is the future of transportation, we hope the plans are developed much further past “extreme sports instruments.” I also wouldn’t hold your breath in hopes to seeing the Scorpion at X-Games any time soon.
Josh Helmuth is the editor of Crave Sports.
