Flying hoverbike shown off with debut amazing flight

AERWINS Technologies has demonstrated its new XTURISMO hoverbike in flight at the latest North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit.

The CEO of AERWINS Technologies, Shuhei Komatsu, was inspired to create the hoverbike by a love of Star Wars and its low-flying vehicles known as landspeeders. Komatsu said that he "wanted to make something from the movie real," referring to the hoverbike as "a land speeder for the Dark Side." The XTURISMO made its first appearance in the United States last week and marked the occasion by flying a few feet off the ground at Coleman A. Young International Airport.

The XTURISMO is currently being sold in Japan, as the Japanese government does not classify it as an aircraft; thus, users do not require a pilot's license to operate it. Komatsu hopes that the United States government will also consider the XTURISMO not to be an aircraft. The company plans to bring a smaller variant of the XTURISMO to market in the United States in 2023, retailing for an estimated $777,000, which will hopefully be down to $50,000 by 2025.

The hoverbike has been in development over the last two years and is a gasoline-electric hybrid vehicle. It comes with a Kawasaki motor and safety features like radar that enable collision avoidance.

"This is what we've all dreamed of since we were little kids. We all wanted flying cars as kids and now as adults we want them to get up and over all of the traffic. Now that the technology has finally caught up to create these amazing vehicles is just awesome," said Sean Bowman, CEO of Aero Auto Sales.

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