Tickets for autonomous flights over two tourist spots in China should go on sale shortly. China's civil aviation authority has given the green light for urban air mobility outfit EHang to begin low-altitude commercial operations with its EH216-S eVTOL.
We've been following EHang's flight path for a number of years – from early camera drones through to the first CES appearance of its air taxi, subsequent trials for tourist hops in China and beyond, and most recently testing a prototype solid-state battery.
The company customized its EH216-S flyer for that test, but it's the production model that's been granted Air Operator Certificates for human-carrying operations by the Civil Aviation Administration of China. Such certification "confirms that the human-carrying aircraft EH216-S meets the technical, management, and safety standards related to operations set by the CAAC."
This effectively signals the start of paid human-carrying services in China, and means that customers will be able to purchase tickets for tourism, sightseeing and other flight services around Guangzhou and Hefei. However, the certifications do limit the operations to taking off and landing at the same location, so hops between different vertiports are currently not possible.
"Hovering flight includes hovering, circling, and return flights near the designated takeoff and landing zones," explained EHang. "The two certified operators are prepared to offer paid human-carrying tourism and flight experience services along designated routes." The operators mentioned are Guangzhou-based EHang General Aviation and HeYi Aviation in Hefei.
The EH216-S electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicles used for these operations have been in development for at least six years, and took to the US skies for the first time in 2020. The two-passenger air taxi sports eight arms around its carbon-fiber-composite fuselage, each ending in two coaxially mounted propellers for a total of 16.
The pilotless aircraft flies over preset routes using 5G wireless connectivity to communicate with the command center. It has a maximum speed of 81 mph (130 km/h) but cruises at 62 mph (100 km/h), can reach an altitude of 9,843 ft (3,000 m), and it's onboard batteries offer a per-charge range of 22 miles (35 km) or a 21-minute flight time. Recharging is said to take around 2 hours. Payload capacity is reported to be 485 lb (220 kg). Passengers enter through gull-wing doors. And the eVTOL has fixed landing gear.
EHang is currently working with the CAAC to open up Point A to Point B and other higher-level flight operations. Indeed, the company is already looking to expand pilotless flights to more regions in China, and expects service operators to gradually move into areas like urban commuting as well as tourism. The age of the air taxi is almost upon us.
Source: EHang
