Lexus Slide is Marty McFly's hoverboard made real

Toyota relative and luxury carmaker Lexus has produced a real, working hoverboard capable of levitating an inch above the ground.

Filled with liquid nitrogen-cooled superconductors and magnets, the board is made from bamboo and features styling cues from the firm's car grilles. The Japanese company's impeccable timing means the board, called Slide, has arrived in the same year which, in Back To The Future 2, showed Marty McFly use a hoverboard.

A metal floor is required to make the hoverboard float – hardly surprising, given the board's use of strong magnets – so it's unlikely that you will see the Slide replacing skateboards in your local park any time soon.

But it works, and that is impressive enough for us. Lexus also claims it has been working on the project for more than 18 months with teams in Germany and London, dispelling claims this is little more than a publicity stunt. The board is currently being tested by professional skateboarders in Barcelona, Lexus says, although riding it is apparently a very different experience to using a conventional board with wheels.

The only teaser video published for now doesn't show the board being ridden, but Lexus says more videos of it in action will follow.

Creating the impossible

Lexus said: "Through the combination of design, technology and imagination... Slide is a perfect example of the amazing things that can be achieved. The Lexus hoverboard uses magnetic levitation to achieve amazing frictionless movement.

"Liquid nitrogen-cooled superconductors and permanent magnets combine to allow Lexus to create the impossible."