By Farahdiba Abdullah
The topic of Malaysia’s first flying car has been overly discussed and criticized either locally nor internationally. Minister of Entrepreneur Development (MED), Datuk Seri Redzuan Mat Yusof has finalized the model of urban air mobility (UAM) made from China company, which was a passenger drone named EHang 216 as shown in the figure below.
However, in the past few weeks, the Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Muhammad pointed out that calling it the flying car was a mistake and created misunderstandings about the real functions of the invention. The current model of UAM only works in the air but not on the road and it is a big drone that is capable of carrying people around. The flying car collaboration between Malaysia and China would be a waste of resources and time because of impractical ideas and solutions to compete in a new industry.
According to Forbes (2017), the real flying car must offer true flexibility to work on the road and in the air. The buyer will need to have both a driver’s license and a pilot’s license. For example, AeroMobil’s flying car from a Slovakia-based company is ready to take off for USD1.6 million and expected to go out by 2020. It is suitable for door-to-door travel in areas with limited road infrastructure.
Malaysia can follow the true concept of flying cars designed by AeroMobil that makes personal transportation more efficient and environmentally friendly. Crafting new ideas must achieve the unique function of a high-tech supercar that can be converted from an automobile to an aircraft. Thus, the government should change and develop our current ecosystem to become a high tech country that we always aspire to be.