China’s Ehang secured the world’s first “type certificate” for an electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft in late 2023. So, what is it like to take a ride inside a fully autonomous air taxi?
About an hour’s drive from the company’s headquarters in Guangzhou, China, sits a test site for Ehang’s autonomous aerial vehicles.
Perched on the tarmac during CNBC’s visit was the company’s fully autonomous, two-seater air taxi.
“This is our EH216 model, and it is positioned for short-distance transportation or sightseeing in the city,” said Dong Wang, Ehang’s vice president of technical research and development. His interview with “CNBC Tech: The Edge” has been translated into English from Mandarin.
In October 2023, Ehang announced the EH216-S AAV had secured a “type certificate” from the Civil Aviation Administration of China, the country’s equivalent to the Federal Aviation Administration in the United States — a certification Wang said is a world first.
“The operation is fully automated. Its scheduling system runs on the server, so its route is automatically loaded, and then it carries out a completely automated route flight.”
The aircraft will cost $410,000 overseas, with a reduced price tag of 2.39 million yuan in China, equal to about $330,000.
“We also have a larger aircraft for transportation between cities. Because of this other aircraft, we also need to build a vertical take-off and landing flight site between cities,” Wang said.
Ehang plans to start commercial operations in China before the end of the year.
Take a tour of the EH216 and watch its test flight by clicking the video above.