If you have dreamt of flying solo in a hoverbike, the XTurismo Limited Edition is here to realize your fantasy for an eye-watering $680,000. With a practical hoverbike following the first commercially available flying motorcycle, we can loosely say, the future of the automotive industry is flying and kicking!
We have grown up to numerous concepts of jet packs, wingsuits, flying cars, and of course the hoverbikes. Arguably, it is the idea of a flying car in particular that has left me enthralled all these years. It’s the simplest ideation of a vehicle – primarily for the road – that can conveniently take off vertically to fly over traffic congestions on your way to the office or back home. The far-fetched dream is now closer to fruition, but before a marketable option makes headlines; a Japanese drone company by the name of A.L.I. Technologies have put forth the first practical hoverbike on the market.
Backed by Mitsubishi and star footballer Keisuke Honda, the drone marque’s hoverbike is a future-forward way to ride on –err- over the ground, man, and a few superheroes too! Opening up a new dimension in personal transportation, where hoverbikes will be a common sight, the XTurismo Limited Edition is powered by real-world tech. It arrives with an upper-body reminiscent of an everyday motorbike and is powered by a conventional engine. Driving the engine is four battery-powered motors that propels this innovation at top speeds of 62mph for good 40 minutes on one go.
Weighing about 300kgs, the predominantly black hoverbike with red accents features jet-ski-like stands for staying rock-solid when parked. And it has six rotors that can, according to the demo, lift the bike for good 10 feet off the ground. The rotors are placed strategically – you can find two big ones on the front, while a set of two rotors are packed on the sides of the hovering motorbike.
For those fanaticizing a ride already, the XTurismo hoverbike is currently available for pre-order in Japan and it is likely to be delivered to the enthusiasts in the first quarter of next year. Before you begin filing paperwork to part with your kidney to own the next revolution in transportation, be warned, this is not going to be street legal any time soon. So all of the $680,000 will go into a contraption for hovering practice in the backyard if even that’s permitted by the authorities in your state!
Designer: A.L.I. Technologies
