Malaysia: Ground Zero for Flying Cars?

When it comes to technological innovation, you can be forgiven if Kuala Lumpur is not the first place that comes to mind. But the city, Malaysia’s capital with a population of nearly 7 million, may be the first place flying cars take off commercially.

Malaysia’s Entrepreneur Development Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Redzuan Md Yusof has seen the nation’s flying car prototype being developed by Aerodyne Group and an unnamed Japanese manufacturer in Japan. The car is 85 percent complete. Redzuan believes it will be ready for operation as early as October, 2019.

To be sure there’s order in the skies above their cities, Redzuan said the Malaysian government is also developing regulations to police the safety of these newly developed transportation systems.

The minister is hoping to see a completed version of the vehicle when he attends an aviation conference being held in Japan in late September 2019.

Although some, such as United Nations special rapporteur, New York University Professor Philip Alston have been vocal that Malaysia’s government should be focusing on fighting changes being wrought by climate change, it’s not clear whether Alston understands Malaysia’s VTOL would most likely be an eVTOL. An eVTOL is not powered by fossil fuels; it runs on electricity and is thus, pollution-free.

While the government is supportive of the flying car initiative, Yusof notes it is a privately funded venture not taking government resources away from efforts to combat climate change.