Ehang

Ehang's Autonomous Aerial Vehicle – a multi-rotor drone capable of carrying people – made its first US appearance at CES 2016, and now the company has demonstrated the first flight in the US of its two-seater autonomous air taxi.

Flying taxis still seem very much like something pulled right out of science fiction, but when transport heavyweights like Boeing, Airbus and Uber start pumping millions of dollars into their development, it might be time to take all of this a bit more seriously.

​Ehang has been a little coy about its taxi drone since bringing a grounded prototype to CES in 2016. Today we've gotten our best look yet at the Ehang 184, with footage for the first time showing it carrying out test flights with people onboard.

Dubai ain't a bad place to see advanced technologies in action. In the latest example of the city's early-adoption mindset, the local transport authority has revealed that it has been testing Ehang's personal taxi drone, with plans to launch operations this July.

Last November, Intel famously broke its own record for most drones flying in formation, by setting 500 of the things in coordinated flight at once. Now, the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou has set the new high mark, by putting 1,000 quadcopters in the air together.

Many questions remain over how the human-carrying Ehang 184 drone will function in the real world, but at least some of these may soon be answered with the company winning governmental approval to test the vehicle in Nevada airspace. ​

After wowing CES attendees with a prototype of a single-passenger drone this year, EHang has now teamed up with a biotechnology firm to adapt the vehicle for emergency organ deliveries. ​​

​As might be expected, there are a lot of drones on display this week at CES. Almost all of them have one thing in common, however: people can't ride in them. We say "almost all," as there is one exception. Ehang's 184 AAV (Autonomous Aerial Vehicle) is designed to carry a single human passenger.

In its ongoing search of a point of difference, the Chinese maker of the Ghost Drone has returned with a new and improved version, which allows pilots to don a set of virtual reality goggles and control the direction of the camera simply by moving their head.

Chinese/American company Ehang is currently raising production funds for its GoPro-toting Ghost Drone. Developed in partnership with Duke University, not only is the quadcopter able to track and film its user, but it's also reportedly easier to fly than its competitors.