Ben Gardner, partner at law firm Shoosmiths, told the BBC that regulatory barriers meant the hoverbike, despite its "ground breaking" technology, ended up being of "limited use".

"With further research and development, engagement with government authorities, and marketing it could have stood a chance - at least in terms of more real world testing and deployment", he said.

"But all of this takes time and money - two things that ALI unfortunately ran out of."

Last year, ALI Technologies agreed to be acquired by the US firm Pono Capital Corp - a move that led to its shares being listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange and that it hoped would raise money.

But nearly all of Pono's investors chose to sell their stock after the listing, according to Bloomberg, denting the price in a way the Japanese firm could not recover from and leaving the firm with little new cash.