Terrifying Video Proves Why Hoverbikes Are A Whole Heap Of 'Nope'

Video footage has emerged showing a 'Hoversurf' bike crashing while being tested by Dubai police
Remote video URL

From time to time we’ve probably all had fanciful visions of a future where the populace moves around on cool flying cars and bikes. We are a long, long way from anything like that ever becoming reality, of course.

For an example of why this is, we need only look at the hoverbike Dubai’s police force has been testing for two years. In a move tinged with a whiff of PR, the force known for its love of headline-grabbing exotic patrol cars has been putting a ‘Hoversurf Scorpion’ through its paces, and its testing regime took a scary turn this week.

As seen in this new video, the pilot of the Scorpion comes crashing back down to Earth having been flying at nearly 100-foot, far above the 16-foot ceiling the vehicle is designed for. The Russian manufacturer of the bike admitted the accident was caused by mechanical failure.

Despite the Scorpion - which has exposed rotor blades - toppling backwards onto the rider shortly after impact, they thankfully escaped the wreck without suffering serious injury. In a statement, Hoversurf said: “All safety systems worked well, and the pilot was not injured. Safety is our main concern. It is thanks to such incidents that our designs are becoming more safe”.

Hoversurf - which also builds cargo drones and intends to make a flying car to go with the bike - boasts on its website that the S3 version has a “triple security system”. This consists of electronic measures like an emergency landing system and anti-interference screening, mechanical precautions such as a kill switch and passive protection including “deformation zones”.

Terrifying Video Proves Why Hoverbikes Are A Whole Heap Of 'Nope'

Hoversurf has previously released images and videos of the S3 with rotor guards (which still make the blades look terrifyingly exposed) - we’re not sure why the Dubai police’s example doesn’t have these.

Perhaps realising the risk of rotor-related maiming limits the Scorpion’s practical applications, the company revealed a concept hoverbike late last year with eight smaller, significantly more enclosed blades. “The main idea of the concept is an increased level of safety,” Hoversurf said at the time. Well, duh.

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Comments

Robert Gracie

Yep….still got a lot of development to happen before it becomes safe to use

06/11/2020 - 13:56 |
1 | 1
Matthew Henderson

Honestly, to me it looks incredibly dangerous and scary.

06/11/2020 - 14:10 |
0 | 0
Kyubi22B

Never knew someone could go full mustang in the air.

06/11/2020 - 14:15 |
14 | 0
Anonymous

Didn’t even know those things existed. All I can say is they look like freaking death traps..

06/11/2020 - 14:16 |
0 | 0
Myrmeko (#CTSquad)

Well. They look pretty safe. Like, with that inflatable airbag helmet i doubt they could be any danger. That was a pretty tame accident, imo.

Except if you manage to flip them and they send you head on to the asphalt beneath. That would be the worst case scenario, but i’m sure they have safety measures for them to not flip.
I think it even did that in the video.
The hovercraft almost flipped, but it was pushed back into place.

I can’t wait until those become mainstream.
I’d really like to have one.

06/11/2020 - 14:25 |
4 | 1

Yup, it must have a sort of g sensor prop cut off. Soon as it senses near tip over, it cuts power to the blades pushing it over

06/12/2020 - 20:51 |
2 | 0
Derek Peavy

Anyone else having issues seeing pictures on the CT app?

06/11/2020 - 15:08 |
1 | 3

Yes

06/11/2020 - 15:16 |
0 | 0

The CT app is no longer supported, has not been supported for over a year now. There has been a few posts about this before. They ask please use the carthrottle mobile website

06/11/2020 - 15:24 |
2 | 0
Anonymous

Who literally thought Hoverbikes can’t crash?

06/11/2020 - 17:02 |
0 | 0
HF_Martini6

let’s stick a bunch of small propeler that spin at a ridiculous RPM on a Quad so we can hover it at Head level of some innocent bystanders it surely can’t be dangerous in any way shape or form

06/11/2020 - 20:52 |
1 | 0
Olivier (CT's grammar commie)

Now that’s podracing

06/12/2020 - 02:31 |
1 | 0
Anonymous

why did he take off and go so high straight away?
surely the higher up you are the harder you’ll land if it goes wrong!

06/12/2020 - 16:28 |
1 | 0
Anonymous

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Mech failure killing ant steering input and blasted him up? Something like a wire shorting causing a glitch in it?

06/12/2020 - 20:52 |
0 | 0