Real Life Sci-Fi: Check Out This Functional Hoverbike

Unfortunately, in the year 2012 humans are still firmly planted on the ground. Cars have tires, sneakers have treads, and the only way to travel in the air is a very expensive ticket. Hoverboards are nowhere to be found and flying cars are still mostly science fiction. An amalgamation of the two, though? It's closer than you think.

A California based company called Aerofex has solved a design issue inventors had in the 1960s and have now, yes, created a machine that is basically a bulky and slow but real-life version of a speeder bike from Return of the Jedi. Check out images and video below.

The following info and images come from LiveScience via Geekologie. Here's the video.

And images:

There's a bunch of technical info in the above articles but, more or less, the technology to hover has been around for decades and the big innovation here was a mechanical system that fixed stability and allowed a rider to turn the machine with their movements. With a human on it, the craft can get to about 15 feet high and 30 miles per hour. It's physically possible to go faster and higher but, just for safety, that's where they're currently keeping it.

The immediate plans aren't to mass produce as something people can buy but, instead, adapt the tech for unmanned drones to carry heavy loads and possibly even military use.

Undeniably cool and exciting but the real life, civilian mass production of this thing seems a bit far off. It's out there though. Maybe one day.