Rightway Technologies

Wednesday, December 15, 2021

Off to a flying start in new area: China set to lead the global charge in flying taxis

Flight plan: a pilot testing a passenger drone in the southern city of Guangzhou. china daily/ANN

JUST how close are we to having flying taxis? In China, there is a rush of homegrown talent and international companies that recognise the value of China’s markets being ever-receptive to novelty.

Despite the technical hurdles faced, the speed at which entrepreneurs are moving makes the time frame for a viable service coming to Chinese cities a matter of years, not decades.

Over the last half decade, China has come to dominate aerial technologies. The global drone success story speaks for itself, with companies such as DJI and Autel Robotics commanding dominant market shares and supplying the majority of flying products to both professionals and enthusiasts worldwide.

Likewise, China-based flying taxi companies, such as Ehang, are advancing fast, carrying out multiple test flights with live passengers and employees, with promising results.

The company even has its eyes set on expansion once the technology is established, with Japan as a potential market, and also a venture into the delivery sector, which could start as early as 2023.

China’s reputation as a fast adopter of disruptive technologies is a major incentive behind the growth of flying taxi research in the country.

Reservations about getting in a new autonomous air vehicle and flying hundreds of metres in the sky may make less adventurous consumers elsewhere stick to their cars for a while.

German company Volocopter has this year created a craft that can take off and land safely within controlled conditions, also with the aim of launching an air ride service in China.

In a statement, Florian Reuter, the CEO of Volcopter, said: “China is the single biggest market opportunity for the urban air mobility industry.”

China has a history of taking up new technology quickly. Those invested in the future of affordable electric air mobility industries in China will certainly hope that they will follow the likes of smartphone cashless payments, and hail and ride (terrestrial) apps.

Both leapfrogged more dated practices in other parts of the world, such as “chip and pin” payments in Europe and the United States, and were adopted with a huge level of success across China’s huge economically active population.

Regional authorities across China are gearing up to facilitate flying taxi services.

Hunan, Anhui and Jiangxi provinces are all supporting the concept of low altitude aviation, investing heavily in airport construction, landing fields and tourism sectors, which will no doubt be boosted by the increase in transport efficiency.

The high expectations for what is coming put pressure on engineers to deliver designs that are practical for mainstream adoption. Noise levels are a major concern, as flying taxis will operate at a much lower altitude than traditional jet airplanes, which frequently cause residential disturbances at heights 10 or 20 times higher. The fact that these taxis are universally electric in design is a major bonus, offering low noise levels, meaning that they should be inaudible around 100m above street level.

Operating on exchangeable batteries also provides environmental benefits, making replacement of parts straightforward, saving on material resources and emissions. Many models are fuelled by several different batteries at once, providing safety fail-safes, meaning that if one or indeed several rotors fail, the aircraft can still land safely.

China is leading the charge; however, the Netherlands, Qatar and New Zealand are also currently carrying out flying taxi trials.

This cannot come soon enough. In cities around the world, ground transportation infrastructure is creaking, and each week, hours of productivity are wasted by commuters being stuck in congested, polluting traffic.

Over the next five years, these trials will morph into services open to the public, and as prices drop, accessibility will no doubt increase. Getting passengers to be comfortable with flying taxis in their cities and their autonomous pilot systems, however, will be a different task, that may take more time and proof of safe practice.

If any market will welcome it first, though, it will be in China. — china daily/ANN

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Chop off Dr. Mahathir's chopstick racist politics

Former Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad had referred to the continued use of chopsticks by the Chinese community in Malaysia.PHOTO: ST FILE

The outdated worldview and narrow thinking expressed by former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad in his new book cannot be allowed to undermine the country's race relations, said Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) secretary-general Chong Sin Woon.

Datuk Chong urged all Malaysians not to be easily swayed by the words of the former premier.

"Instead, commit ourselves to be more open-minded, progressive and accepting of others' cultures so that we can build a more united Malaysia together.

"We do not want to see Malaysia's precious multiracial ties get strained because of his new book and his remarks, which propagate racial division and extremism," he said in a statement yesterday.

Mr Chong noted that Malaysians should discuss nation-building from a progressive and diverse perspective.

At a book launch on Sunday (Dec 12), Tun Dr Mahathir had referred to the continued use of chopsticks by the Chinese community in Malaysia.

"The Chinese eat with chopsticks, they don't eat with their hands. They have not adopted the Malaysian way of eating food.

"They retained the chopstick, which is an identity from China, not Malaysia, and many other things," he reportedly said.

Mr Chong said MCA has been expending all efforts to protect and preserve the cultural diversity and rights of each ethnicity, including the freedom to learn one's mother tongue as provisioned under the federal Constitution, as well as the prevailing principles of moderation, freedom and democracy.

As a former prime minister who led the country and achieved economic success during his tenure in the 1990s, Dr Mahathir had his fair share of contributions and failures, Mr Chong said.

"And yet, after so many years, he is still unable to break free from the extreme, racial mindset.

"At 96, one would expect Tun Mahathir to have a more seasoned outlook and come up with wiser approaches to current affairs.

"Regrettably, the nonagenarian remains unchanged in his old ways, still bitter and critical about the specifics of the ethnicity and cultures of others," he said.

Monday, December 13, 2021

Malays in need of a paradigm shift

A PARADIGM shift occurs when the usual ways of thinking or doing things are replaced by new and different ways. This normally happens when fundamentals are progressively changed.

Developing a country takes time, starting with a holistic education that seeks to address the emotional, social and ethical needs of students, apart from academic studies and skills training. Students must reflect on their actions and how they impact the local and global community, and engage in projects that require critical thinking skills towards solving real-world problems.

But if education is centred on rote learning just to pass school examinations and plagiarism to gain academic qualifications, young adults will be unproductive, and the country will remain poor. This is evident in Malaysia as huge numbers of graduates are churned out every year but most are underemployed or remain unemployed for months.

Not in Singapore, though. It separated from Malaysia in 1965 and developed on its own to become a rich nation, thanks mainly to good governance and sound education. Although the cost of living in Singapore is high to match the high living standards, the average Singaporean salary is several times higher than in Malaysia, allowing for more disposable income and savings. Hence, there are about a million Malaysians, or former Malaysians, residing in Singapore, and another 350,000 workers and students who commuted daily from Johor in pre-pandemic times. Malaysia had also lost much of its human capital to many countries around the world over the years, initially to Britain and then to the United States and Australia and, in recent years, China.

While other non-english speaking countries have adopted or promoted English as their second language to be better connected to the world, we are doing the exact opposite. In fact, some politicians seem bent on nurturing island mentalities in cultivating their support base by sowing fear of other races, religions and languages. Those who truly love their own race, religion and language would focus on lifting their community, which would be admired universally. But such efforts require too much hard work, it seems. Sadly, our country will not be transformed if people remain insular, if we remain, as the Malay proverb puts it, “katak di bawah tempurung” (frog under a coconut) shell).

One of the best ways for Malaysians to be exposed to the world is to be multilingual by not only learning our national language but also other important languages. Mandarin and Tamil could easily be learned in vernacular primary schools, and these students could later contribute greatly to economic and cultural ties with China and South India. Likewise for Arabic, Japanese, Korean, German, French and Spanish. In any case, learning at least three languages would expose Malaysians to a great variety of cultures and ideas.

Apart from the valuable exposure gained by communicating with people of different races, religion and cultures, it is also necessary for those at the top to come down from their ivory towers.

Recently, Transport Minister Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong made a surprise visit to the Road Transport Department in Johor Baru and was shocked by the long queue for counter service. He rightfully described the counter service system as “ancient”. He then used Facebook to voice his unhappiness about a host of problems and the immediate actions that he had taken.

If we wish to modernise, we should not continue to be bogged down by antiquated methods and mindsets. We should continuously take small, medium and large incremental steps to move forward.

If not, we will stagnate and be left behind while other countries, such as Indonesia, race ahead. But some of our politicians seem to prefer to harp on racial, religious and language issues, and raise petty matters in Parliament hoping to gain popularity.

Perhaps a paradigm shift will only occur when a coalition wins by a two-thirds majority in the next general elections and the economy ends up in total shambles. Perhaps if everyone is forced to work together to rescue our country from total disaster, we could still rise from the ashes.