Wednesday was the day that fans of the 1989 Back To The Future II movie had been avidly awaiting for 26 years, as it was at 4.29pm on October 21, 2015, that Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) and Doc (Christopher Lloyd) landed in the future in their time-travelling, flying, cold fusion powered DeLorean.
The popular movie trilogy made some interesting predictions about the state of technology in 2015, some of them more accurate than others.
The self-tying shoelaces, holographic movies and time-travel featured in the film haven’t come about, and neither has cold fusion (which means a nuclear reaction at room temperature for an abundant and cheap source of energy, in case you weren’t paying attention in science class).
However, cars with the ability to fly are getting ever closer to reality and there are several concept vehicles being developed including the Slovak-built Aeromobil. Although it can’t hover like the Hollywood-imagined DeLorean, the Aeromobil has folding wings that transform it from a roadgoing machine to an airborne one at the press of a button.
The two-seater Aeromobil, which is expected to go on sale in 2017, fits neatly in a parking space or a garage and fills up like a regular car at any filling station. Once it reaches an airfield, voila, it unfolds its wings within seconds, becoming a plane capable of flying at around 200km/h with a range of 700km.
The levitating skateboard that McFly uses in the movie is also a reality – kind of. Lexus this year built a prototype hoverboard that’s able to glide a few centimetres above the ground, giving frictionless movement of a kind that had been thought impossible. The force is strong enough to allow an adult rider to stand and even jump on the board. It does work, though it requires a magnetic track laid down in the surface.
For now it’s just a concept, so don’t expect it in your local sports or toy store any time soon.
As for the iconic DeLorean DMC-12, a stainless steel, gull-winged American sportscar with styling way ahead of its time back in the early 1980s, it was produced for only three years before the company went bust in 1982.
Star Motoring