A small town in regional New South Wales has been chosen as the test site for a fleet of electric flying cars.
The NSW government has announced it is giving a $950,000 grant to AMSL Aero, an aerospace company, to test its Vertical TakeOff and Landing (eVTOL) vehicles at a new testing facility being built near Dubbo.
The aerodrome precinct is located in Narromine, five hours west of Sydney, and is expected to be completed by the end of July.
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The announcement was made by NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro who said he believes the advancements would help residents and Australians more broadly travel the country’s great distances with ease.
“Imagine the convenience of having a flying car land in your suburb when you need to travel to a regional destination that is not serviced by an airport,” Barilaro said in a media release.
“It sounds like science fiction but the reality is a future where this is possible, practical and affordable is not that far away and I am proud that our investment attraction grant will help the development of this new technology and support jobs in regional NSW.”
AMSL Aero is expected to set up shop in the precinct later this year and begin testing its flying cars by early 2021.
It comes just weeks after Coober Pedy was announced as the site of a new flying car race.
A Sydney company announced it would race its Airspeeder — an oversized drone capable of reaching up to 130 kilometres — in the South Australian desert to show off the craft’s capacity.
While the flying cars could hold a human pilot, it would need to pass stringent regulation requirements by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA). Instead, this race would be undertaken by driver-less Airspeeders.
A date for the race is yet to be confirmed but it’s expected to happen later in 2020, coronavirus permitting.
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