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from the and-you-thought-Hogs-were-loud dept.
Hoverbike Makes Its US Debut at Detroit Auto Show - ExtremeTech:
XTURISMO is the latest development out of AERWINS, a Japanese air mobility startup. While the hoverbike's center indeed looks like a street bike, it's surrounded by large fans, lending the vehicle the overall appearance of a massive, rideable drone. The 300-kilogram (661-pound) hoverbike is powered by both an internal combustion engine and a battery, which together lend XTURISMO its 40-kilometer (24.8-mile) cruising range. XTURISMO can zip around at speeds up to 100 kilometers (62 miles) per hour while carrying payloads (AKA drivers) up to 100 kilograms, or 220 pounds.
[...] Though XTURISMO's range and speed are undoubtedly lower than some aspirational hoverbike drivers would hope for, the technology has to start somewhere, and mild freeway speeds aren't a terrible place to start. Of course, none of that matters if you're turned off by XTURISMO's $777,000 price tag...and its lack of availability in the US. Because Japan doesn't consider XTURISMO to be a type of aircraft, special licenses aren't required to drive it there, and Japanese residents can begin buying and driving the hoverbike as soon as they wish.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday September 23 2022, @05:17PM
Props for the effort, but to me a motorcycle seems the wrong modality for a hoverbike. It's too easy to fall off. I'd much rather be in a pod like this [stuff.co.nz] that could pop out a coterie of air bags a la the Mars Pathfinder [nasa.gov] to cushion the fall should it lose power.
Washington DC delenda est.