Paul Sandner Moller is a Canadianengineer who has spent the past fifty years+ developing the Moller Skycar personal vertical takeoff and landing vehicle. The engine technology developed for the Skycar has also been adapted as a UAV platform called the "aerobot". The rotapower engine itself has been spun off to a separate Moller company, Freedom Motors. Moller was born in Fruitvale, British Columbia, Canada.
In 1972, Moller founded Supertrapp Industries to market his invention of an engine silencing system. Moller sold Supertrapp in 1988 in order to fund development of his Skycar and its rotapower engine. In 2003, the Securities and Exchange Commission sued Moller for civil fraud in connection with value of shares after the initial public offering of stock, and for making unsubstantiated claims about the performance of the Skycar. Moller settled this lawsuit without admitting guilt by agreeing to a permanent injunction against claiming projected worth of Moller International stock and paying US$50,000. The shareholders of Moller International - collectively known as SOMI banded together on a website to tell the Moller-side of the SEC issue. Moller is a professor emeritus at the University of California, Davis and lives in Davis. He was featured in Popular Sciences January 2005 issue and appeared on the radio show Coast To Coast AM. In 2007, Moller announced that the M200G Volantor, a successor to the Moller Skycar, would hopefully be on the market in the United States by early 2008. His proposed Autovolantor model includes an all-electric version powered by Altairnano batteries. Moller's credibility has been questioned in recent years because of the vaporware nature of his creations. In April 2009, the National Post characterized the Moller M400 Skycar as a 'failure', and described the Moller company as "no longer believable enough to gain investors". On May 18, 2009, Moller filed for personal protection under the Chapter 11 reorganization provisions of the federal bankruptcy law, however Moller International did not file for bankruptcy and continues to do business as of 2013.
