I Rode A Hoverboard With Tony Hawk

 

 

 

 

 

 

” I’ve been saying that a lot lately. Out loud. At all kinds of inopportune moments. Like, “Hey, sorry I didn’t get back to you—I was busy because I WAS RIDING A HOVERBOARD WITH TONY HAWK.” Or, “Ketchup? Oh yeah, that reminds of this time I WAS RIDING A HOVERBOARD WITH TONY HAWK.” Total dick.

  But I really did ride a hoverboard with Tony Hawk. A totally real, not fake, working hoverboard. This isn’t any of that Funny or Die bullshit. It’s real. The folks at Arx Pax dropped a press release and a video in October claiming that they have developed the technology to make shit hover. At the time, I interviewed the company’s founders, Greg and Jill Henderson, and at the end of our interview they invited me up to their lab in Los Gatos, Calif. to ride the hoverboard myself.

  Hendo’s hover technology relies on magnets, which means the hoverboard can, for the time being, only hover over non-ferrous materials. When I first spoke to Greg and Jill, I apologized for not being a scientist before I began asking stupid questions like, “What does non-ferrous mean?” and “Why can’t I ride it down the street?”

“ No worries about not being a scientist,” Greg said, “because neither are we. I’m an architect by trade, and that’s where this technology came from. Right now, what we have is essentially the Model-T [of hoverboards]. This is a proof of concept. And because we made this big leap in efficiency, we are able now to do what other folks couldn’t do on a conductive material like aluminum or copper. As we optimize this system, ideally we’ll be able to go on other surfaces.” “

 

The Ride Channel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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