Opals might soon become the second thing Cooper Pedy is known for, with the town named as the site for a full-scale ‘flying car’ exhibition race later this year.
The race will be run by a company called Airspeeder, which has used existing drone technology to develop the vehicles, and co-founder Matt Pearson says large expanses of open desert are the perfect place to test them.
“Australia’s been a great place to test drones, even Google and Amazon have chosen Australia for their test programs because of fairly advanced regulations,” he said.
The vehicles in the exhibition race will be remote controlled and can hover above ground and manoeuvre with relative freedom.
Coober Pedy Business and Tourism Association Treasurer, Debbie Clee, told the ABC they hope the race will reboot the town after the coronavirus pandemic led to a tourism downturn.
“We hope it’s going to be fantastic for tourism – anything that’s exciting, new and innovative is perfect for Coober Pedy.”
“Where else would you see flying cars in an alien landscape?”
Sounds interesting, although we might wait a little while before we take a seat (driver’s or passenger’s) in one.
