Hoverbikes Get One Step Closer to Reality

Where's. My. Flying. Car?

This has been the battle cry of science fiction aficionados disappointed by the current state of the 21st century. Well, what can we say? They're working on it. 

For the past few years one of the major players to watch in the flying care space has been Chris Malloy and his hoverbike project. Now Malloy has taken to Kickstarter to raise (succesfully) some funds for the continuing development of his flying speeder.

This hoverbike was originally envisioned as a two-bladed speeder that drives like a motorcycle. But a lack of stability in that design has pushed Malloy to look to a squatter quadroter design, with two blades in front and two in back.

Though many people who run Kickstarter campaigns like to offer up finished products as rewards for your investment dollar, there's no real working hoverbike to speak of just yet. Instead, the hoverbike team are giving out working 1/3-scale models of their prototype hoverbike to backers willing to lay down a significant chunk of change.

Malloy and his hoverbike project didn't just come out of nowhere. The bike has been under construction for at least the past five years. According to Giz Mag, ramping up from the smaller drone to a fully functional hoverbike isn't actually that unrealistic:

Though the act of designing and creating a fully functional hover bike may seem technologically Herculean, there’s no practical barrier to making it happen, at least not with the quadrotor design Chris Malloy and his team are working on with the Hoverbike. While public skepticism may be a significant barrier, the real challenge is bringing together existing technology, while making the vehicle safe, practical and economically viable.

Malloy's miniature hoverbike Kickstarter has already more than met its funding goal, but that doesn't mean he'll have all the money he needs to bring the hoverbike to life. It's just one more step on the long road to the science fiction future we're all waiting for.  

Colin Schultz | | READ MORE

Colin Schultz is a freelance science writer and editor based in Toronto, Canada. He blogs for Smart News and contributes to the American Geophysical Union. He has a B.Sc. in physical science and philosophy, and a M.A. in journalism.