Hoverbike
{{Short description|Personal vehicle capable of hovering}}
File:Malloy hoverbike 2010.jpg, an early hoverbike, undergoing tethered hover testing in 2010]]
A hoverbike (or hovercycle) is a vehicle that can hover, resembling a flying motorbike, having at least two propulsive portions—one in front of and one behind the driver. It is often used as a staple vehicle in science fiction and near future settings, but since the early 2010s, some attempts have been made at developing a functional, practical hoverbike.
Aeronautic motors
Starting in 2014, Malloy Aeronautics has been developing the Malloy Hoverbike, which uses a quadcopter-like lift.{{cite news| last=Edge | first=Dirck | title=Malloy Aeronautics Hoverbike Under Development| website= MotorcycleDaily| date=14 July 2015 | url=https://www.motorcycledaily.com/2015/07/malloy-aeronautics-hoverbike-under-development/}} In 2015, the company announced collaboration with the United States Department of Defense at the Paris Airshow.{{cite web|title=U.S. Defense Department to develop UK hoverbike|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlkUZNwHMhw|publisher=Reuters |date=22 June 2015 |accessdate=1 May 2016}}{{cbignore}}{{Dead Youtube links|date=February 2022}}
{{external media|video1={{YouTube|BJg-3uJWJvo|World's first fully-manned hoverbike tested in Moscow}}|image1=}}
In April 2016, British inventor Colin Furze announced he had created a hoverbike using two paramotors.{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/04/29/british-inventor-builds-incredible-working-hoverbike/|title=British inventor builds incredible working hoverbike|website=The Daily Telegraph|date=29 April 2016|first=Madhumita|last=Murgia|access-date=26 Oct 2017}}
The Aero-X is a hoverbike designed to carry up to two people.{{cite web |first=Anu |last=Passary |url=http://www.techtimes.com/articles/7068/20140516/aero-x-is-a-cool-hover-bike-that-can-be-yours-in-2017-for-85-000.htm |title=Aero-X is a cool hover bike that can be yours in 2017… for $85,000 |work=Tech Times |date=16 May 2014 |accessdate=24 June 2014}}
The Hoversurf Scorpion 3 is a hoverbike launched in 2017.{{cite web | last=Orf | first=Darren | title=The Scorpion-3 Is the World's First Manned Hoverbike | website=Popular Mechanics | date=February 15, 2018 | url=https://www.popularmechanics.com/flight/drones/a25308/scorpion-3-manned-hoverbike/ | access-date=October 22, 2018}} It is used in limited numbers by the Dubai Police Force.
The A.L.I. Technologies XTurismo was on sale in Japan from 2021, and in the United States the following year. It requires a pilot's licence in most countries, but not in Japan. It is considered a proof of concept with 200 to be made, with a smaller version planned for 2025, at a much lower price.{{cite web | title=XTURISMO LIMITED EDITION| website=AERWINS Technologies| url=https://aerwins.us/xturismo/ | access-date=20 September 2022}} The concept existed in Japan since 2000.{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIEf-xJ8VE4 |title= Utada Hikaru - Wait & See ~Risk~ |work=YouTube |date=19 April 2000 |accessdate=23 September 2023}}
A one-person, or unmanned cargo, flying vehicle with four jet motors at the corners using artificial intelligence to maintain stability that has been described as a "flying motorbike" and named "Speeder" was under development in 2022, an idea that emerged from work with the US Navy. {{As of|2022|2|alt=By early 2022}}, several full-size prototypes had been built, with a top speed of {{Convert|200|mph}}, and flight endurance of 60 minutes.{{Cite news |title=How a jetpack design helped create a flying motorbike |last=Morris |first=Ben |website=BBC News |date=18 March 2022 |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60333565}}
In fiction
- This concept is commonly used in futuristic cyberpunk games such as Mass Effect 3 or Cyberpunk 2077.{{Cite web|url=https://www.vg247.com/2018/06/21/cyberpunk-2077-flying-cars/|title=You can't control flying cars in Cyberpunk 2077|date=2018-06-21|website=VG247|access-date=2019-04-20}}
- In the Star Wars universe, characters use speeder bikes lifted by repulsorlift engines.
- In the video game Heroes of the Storm, heroes can use numerous types of hovercycles as mounts to increase their movement speed on the battlefield.
- The video game Grand Theft Auto Online features the Oppressor Mk II, an armed jet-powered hoverbike itself loosely based on the hoverbikes seen in the 2012 film Looper, added to the game in 2018.{{cn|date=September 2024}}
- In the television series Kamen Rider Revice, Kamen Rider Revi rode a hoverbike based on the A.L.I. Technologies XTurismo{{cite news| title=Flying motorbikes: something out of a bad 1980s sci-fi movie or the future of the commute? | newspaper=The Guardian | date=20 September 2022 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/sep/20/flying-motorbikes-xturismo-japan-future-commute}} as his main mode of transport.
- The Jet Moto video game series was focused around Hoverbike racing.