Philippine inventor debuts drone-like 'flying sports car'

A journalist rides a drone flying car in the province of Batangas, Philippines, yesterday.

A journalist rides a drone flying car in the province of Batangas, Philippines, yesterday.

Published Sep 27, 2018

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A Philippine inventor has unveiled "a flying sports car" that represents the future of transport, riding it out of a warehouse towards a cheering crowd, leaving a cloud of dust in his wake.

Former dancer and camera operator Kyxz Mendiola flew and hovered for a few minutes in a single-passenger contraption powered by the “multicopter” technology commonly used in small unmanned drones.

“It was amazing,” Mendiola commented after what he said was the first public test flight of his invention. “All the hard work paid off. Everything worked perfect.”

Mendiola’s machine, the “Koncepto Milenya”, can fly as high as 6.1m and speed up to 60km/h but its maiden flight lasted just a little over 10 minutes. He said it took a long time to save up the money for the components of the single-seater powered by six lithium-ion batteries and steered with a portable radio frequency controller.

“Press a button and it will go up, then push the stick forward, it goes forward. It’s very smart, that’s why I’m saying it has a lot of potential,” Mendiola said. The machine, which can carry up to 100kg, could shave hours off trips in cities like the capital, Manila, crippled by chronic traffic problems, Mendiola said.

“When we have to go somewhere about an hour’s drive, this can take you there in five minutes,” he said.

An added safety feature is that the craft’s 16 rotary motors allow it to keep flying, even if one or two fail.

An Australian company, Star8, is partnering with Mendiola to develop the vehicle after a video featuring it went viral on social media.

Star8’s chief executive Jacob Maimon plans to mass produce it and market it in Australia, Europe and Hong Kong. Reuters

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