Matt Pearson, the man behind flying car racing series

The Australian entrepreneur, Matt Pearson, is famous as a co-founder of Alauda Aeronautics. Additionally, Aluda is currently on the hype after the announcement of developing manned flying cars named MK4 and MK3. Previously, the company had already manufactured unmanned prototypes, MK1, and MK2, in 2018 and 2019 respectively. Besides, Matt is also renowned as the CEO of the world’s first electric flying car racing series, the Airspeeder racing league. 

Although the first manned flying racing car is not commercially viable to date, it is expected to be cheaper than helicopters due to the use of drone technologies for hovering and manoeuvring. With this announcement, Matt Pearson is optimistic that Australia will emerge as a global leader in the flying car industry.

On the other hand, Pearson’s company is not the first to come up with the idea of flying cars in Australia. Notably, back in February 2020, Uber announced Melbourne as one of the three cities where it will trial air-taxis.

If you are interested in the concept behind the flying racing cars, read this article to learn more about Matt Pearson, the man behind the invention of this aerial horse.

Who is Matt Pearson?

South African native, Matt Pearson is an Australia based entrepreneur, millionaire, and investor. He is a pioneer in quick start-up and small business systemization.

His experience of running several internet businesses has fuelled his confidence in the utter importance of STEM education for the Australian economy.

First significant project- Lunchbox

Matt Person’s first significant project was an educational startup, Lunchbox. He co-founded the Lunchbox along with Flavia Nardini, a space engineer by profession. In addition, the firm introduced 3D printed nanosatellites for school children.

Besides, Matt and Flavia were able to generate considerable revenue from the initiative. Eventually, income helped them travel around the globe to understand even greater challenges, as well as to be better advocates of STEM. Although the company is passively operating, it still does events with students now and then.

Inspiration to work with the Internet of things (IoT)

While still working for Lunchbox, Matt and his team were in love with the concept of the Internet of things (IoT). With the inspiration, Matt co-founded the company named Fleet Space to solve the massive IoT issue in 2015.

Particularly, the company had a primary goal to connect industry devices on a massive scale without 3G. Besides, Fleet Space has already launched four satellites and all of them were launched in a short period of time.

Doing miracles with Alauda Aeronautics

Most recently, Matt is actively working as the CEO of Alauda Aeronautics. Furthermore, Alauda Aeronautics works in manufacturing flying racing cars, using eVTOL (Electric Vertical Take Off and Landing) technology. Likewise, the Aeronautics company is now building Speeders, the manned flying racing cars: MK4 and MK3. 

On the other hand, Alauda is hoping to hold the Airspeeder World Championship with five teams and ten pilots. In particular, the championship is expected to begin in different remote locations around the globe. As per the initial plan, the first public race will be held in Coober Pedy, South Australia.

Dream project

Matt Pearson has many visions; first of all, he wants to create a flying racing car. Then he wants to create another and make them compete against each other through the desert. Also, Matt initially thought of launching a flying Grand Prix in 2020.

However, he had to postpone his plan until 2021 due to the impact of the ongoing pandemic, COVID-19. Most recently, the news of Airspeeder teaming up with cyber protection firm Acronis was in the media. As per the reports, Airspeeder and Acronis are planning to launch the racing series in 2021.

Talking about the news, Matt said:

“At Airspeeder we are creating an aerial motorsport driven by innovation. Backing from Acronis, a business with an extraordinary culture of technological success in Formula One and Formula E represents significant affirmation of our vision to accelerate the next great mobility revolution through sporting competition.“

Formula One of the skies

The Airspeeder league, described as the Formula One of the skies, will see race cars called Speeders racing around a track in the clouds. Furthermore, flying cars can travel at a maximum speed of 130 km/hr. Likewise, the safety of the rider is guaranteed with LiDAR and Machine Vision technology. The racing cars will have a single pilot who will be from military, civil UAV, motorsports, or e-sports background.

Contradically, the reports suggest that the Speeder is yet to get permission to fly with drivers. Though they have permission from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) to fly large-scale commercial drones, the approval doesn’t include a license to fly the cars with human drivers. However, we will have to wait a little longer to find out how the prototype of the first-ever aerial formula one would be.