We never thought we’d want to own a hoverboard, the douchey nephew to the Segway, but this video may have finally convinced us. Uploaded to YouTube by Steve Scherer, the clip depicts a young man in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin — which is enjoying a balmy high of 6° Fahrenheit today, with five to eight more inches of snow expected on Friday — shoveling his driveway like a visitor from a distant future, come to revolutionize the way we think about seasonal chores. (Can’t wait to see how he does with leaves next fall.)
He lets the motor do the work, zipping up and down the pavement without a care in the world. The device really does seem to speed up the process, with the added benefit of looking cool.
The video has a soothing, meditative quality to it, like watching someone rake a Zen garden.
It’s not quite as cinematic as Marty McFly fleeing Biff Griff Tannen and his gang of cyberpunk hooligans through downtown Hill Valley, but it’s still easily one of the best advertisements we’ve seen so far for a real-life hoverboard self-balancing scooter.
That said, maybe don’t try this at home. The slippery conditions combined with that steep incline look dangerous as hell, although, to his credit, the kid maneuvers like a pro. On the bright side, should your board’s defective lithium-ion battery spontaneously combust, the snow on your driveway will probably melt anyway — so, win-win.