Filipino Invents Flying Car: Say Hello to the Koncepto Milenya

Don't look now--but a Filipino just invented a "flying car-like device" that he's planning to mass produce any time now. Personally, we think it's really more of a cross between a Star Wars battle droid and a Guardians of the Galaxy mini spaceship--but hey, to each his own. However, in the case of its inventor, Kyxz Mendiola, he describes this promising vehicle an "ultralight aircraft that kind of looks like a flying car."

"It's sort of like a flying car that uses drone or multi-copter technology para makalipad (to fly). Parang drone siya na sasakyan (It's a vehicle that's like a drone)," Mendiola said in an interview.

Named "Koncepto Milenya," this one-seater "flying car" can only stay up in air for 15 minutes. It also takes around 2.5 hours to recharge the batteries, so yes--forget those long trips to the province for now. Eventually, this might be the case after a decade or so, but in the near future, it would probably serve its purpose as a vehicle you'd turn to when you know you'd be stuck in traffic--and extremely pressed for time.

When asked how much he spent on building it, Mendiola said he invested millions of pesos in the vehicle. He also invested a lot of time in designing and building it to where it is now: six years.

"Gusto ko parang sports car. Mala-Lamborghini na lumilipad. 'Yung design, trial and error siya eh. Katulad ng paraan ng pag hanap ko ng mga piyesa (I want it to be like a sports car. Like a Lamborghini that flies. It's design came from trial and error. Like how I sourced out its parts. At first, it caught fire. Then I bought the wrong parts.)," Mendoza recalled.

Yes, we have to admit it flies far more than it takes for us to even gulp down a big Mac with large fries. The charging time is quite satisfactory, although we think it needs a couple of major tweaks to make it commercially-viable. But still, think of the potential here: it can fly you to your destination and help you avoid traffic at short trips. Now, let's just wait a couple of years before Mendoza increases its flying time to an hour (at least). That would certainly beat our record for the longest time we performed a traditional sit-up in eight reps, three sets. (Don't judge.)

Here's a video of Koncepto Millenya in action: