Want to travel from point A to point B, but worry that your vehicle isn’t nearly terrifying enough? If your idea of acceptable transport carries a four-spinning-blade minimum then you may want to check out Hoversurf’s fearsome single-seat electric hoverbike.
The product of a company based in both Russia and the U.S., Hoversurf’s Scorpion-3 (S3) vehicle is what happens if you cross a quadcopter with a Star Wars speeder bike. It initially looks like something out of the world of extreme sports (albeit one that might make Tony Hawk prefer to stay home for the day and replay his old video games). But its creators claim it has a future as a car alternative.
“This is a big quadcopter,” Moscow-based CEO Alexander Atamanov told Digital Trends. “In 2016, we made [the world’s] first manned drone flight on Scorpion-1. Scorpion-3 is more powerful and controlled. There is a future transport [that’s just] beginning … On this platform, we can make [a] drone-car or drone-taxi or cargo-drone.”
Scorpion-3 offers a combination of full manual and automated controls. The machine itself was inspired by heavy duty sport motorbike frames, with a maximum speed of 50kph, a design intended to offer both speed and maneuvering, and the promise of around 27 minutes of flight on a single charge. A test flight took place in Moscow last week, and the plan is now to take it on a “road show” in the U.S.
Beyond that, there’s no date announced when you’ll be able to get your hands on one, but expect to pay in the vicinity of $150,000. That’s not cheap, but it would certainly gain you the admiration of all of your friends. Until you accidentally lop your leg off mid-flight, that is!
