Malaysia will soon unveil the prototype of its own flying car, a controversial project that had the local social media scene buzzing with jokes a few months ago.
Entrepreneur Development Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Redzuan Md Yusof said the work to construct Malaysia’s first flying car is 85% complete.
The prototype is being built by a Malaysian company in Japan where the minister is heading to have a peek of the almost completed flying car.
He said the car is being built in Japan because the country is an economic powerhouse that has the supporting ecosystem for the flying-car industry.
“I am going to Japan in September for the Aviation Conference and I hope to get to see the almost complete (flying) car that we will be going to bring back towards the end of the year, ” Mohd Redzuan told reporters yesterday.
Two weeks ago, the minister said Malaysia will soon test the flying car. The ministry has prepared a special zone in Cyberjaya exclusively for flying car testing and development.
Despite backlash and netizens poking fun at the idea, Malaysia is going ahead with the project which the minister says is the way to go for the future of transportation.
Earlier this month he said that while Malaysians are still debating about flying cars and making jokes about it, other countries have already moved towards the future.
Malaysians have an aversion to the idea of the country investing in a car project after the failure of the Proton, the first national car.
The minister also said his ministry is in discussion with various other ministries involved in the aviation sector to create available space for flying cars in Malaysia.
He said this step is similar to efforts undertaken in several other countries, to complement skills of local entrepreneurs to develop a flying car.
Though the flying car is a private initiative, the government needs to create and assist in the flying car industry in Malaysia.
To see the first flying car in action in Malaysia’s airspace would depend on Malaysia’s ecosystem for flying cars, especially in terms of availability to fly at that time, the minister said. -/TISG