I don't know about you, but I'm fascinated and at the same time slightly uneasy by the idea of flying over a metropolis in a flying capsule with no one at the controls. I won't have the opportunity at the moment, however: unless I go to China for work or tourism. The Chinese civil aviation authority has just signed the certificate authorizing the company EHang to transport paying human beings aboard his EH216-S, an autonomous aircraft that represents the first real incarnation of the China air taxi that has been fantasized about for years. It is not a test, it is not a prototype: it is a real commercial service. There you have it, the future has arrived (and as always, it is unevenly distributed).
A long road to heaven
For those who have been following EHang's developments for a long time, this authorization represents the culmination of a journey that began years ago. The company started with drones for aerial photography, moving on to the first appearance of its air taxi at CES, up to tourist experiments in China and beyond. Recently, it went as far as testing a prototype with a solid-state battery. The model that obtained the certification, as I said, is theEH216-S, an electric EVTOL (vertical takeoff and landing) vehicle that has demonstrated that it meets the technical, management and safety standards set by the Chinese authority. A certification that, in fact, marks the beginning of commercial services with human passengers in China.
Let's be clear: this is not yet the flying taxi that will take you from the office to home. Current certifications limit operations to take-off and landing in the same location. Customers will be able to purchase tickets for tourist and scenic services around the cities of Guangzhou ed hefei, but for now it will not be possible to move between different “vertiports”.
A Mechanical Dragonfly in the Chinese Skies
The design of the EH216-S is nothing short of peculiar. The aircraft is equipped with eight arms around the carbon fiber composite fuselage, each ending with two coaxial propellers, for a total of 16 rotors. There is no pilot on board: The air taxi follows pre-set routes using 5G wireless connectivity to communicate with the command center.
The technical specifications are not bad at all: maximum speed of 130 km/h (but typically flies at 100 km/h), can reach an altitude of 3.000 meters and the batteries offer a range of 35 km or 21 minutes of flight. The recharge takes about 2 hours. The load capacity is 220kg, passengers enter through gull-wing doors, and the aircraft has fixed landing gear.
Air Taxis in China, the Future is (Almost) Here
EHang is already working with the Chinese authorities to expand point-to-point operations and other more complex flight scenarios. The company aims to expand unmanned flights to other regions of China and expects service operators to gradually move into areas such as urban commuting in addition to tourism.
The age of the air taxi in China is practically upon us. And, as is often the case, it is China that is leading the way in this new frontier of mobility, leaving the rest of the world wondering when (and if) it will be able to catch up. In the meantime, tourists in Guangzhou and Hefei are preparing for an experience that, until yesterday, seemed confined to an episode of Jetsons.
