Why do scientists call hovercraft the transport of the future? Well, for one, it doesn’t matter where you want to drive it — it moves equally well on land or water. It manages to do this because it doesn’t travel on wheels, but on a cushion of air. Hovercraft, therefore, are extremely useful as a means of transport over soft, swampy terrain, where normal vehicles get stuck. The hovercraft was invented by English inventor Christopher Cockerell in 1952.