Hoverbikes are now real

(Screenshot from Hoversurf YouTube video)

Okay, so maybe the 21st century under-delivered on the whole flying car thing, but it appears we're a lot closer to another form of personal flight than you probably thought. It seems the hoverbike, a tried and true addition to any futuristic science fiction arsenal, is already a reality. Hoversurf just released a trailer for its first fully manned hoverbike, built on a heavy duty drone platform called the Scorpion 3, and it's just as cool as it sounds.

The video shows off the team's successful attempt at a fully manned hoverbike -- and just seeing the speedy contraption in action is enough to get your blood pumping -- but the real star of the show here is the Scorpion 3 drone platform.

Hoversurf built the Scorpion 3 platform to be used in a number of different applications, and the hoverbike seen here is just one of those. In the future, the company plans to use the same basic design for heavy lifting cargo drones and even a flying car concept. The Scorpion platform is also used by the Chinese drone maker E-Hang, which is the same company currently working on a fleet of flying taxis for the city of Dubai.

As for the hoverbike, Hoversurf notes that the craft could evolve into something of an extreme sport, though it's not necessarily positioning it as such. The company still has plenty of work to do before its flying bike is ready to be flown by your average joe, but with plenty of clients utilizing its platform for their own projects, it's clear the underlying technology is rock solid.