Chinese company launches commercial flying taxis

EHang, a Chinese drone manufacturer, has introduced its EH216-S model flying taxi for commercial sale on Taobao, an online shopping platform owned by Alibaba. Priced at 2.39 million yuan ($332,060), the EH216-S is being advertised as "an innovative solution for urban transportation".

The EH216-S is designed to accommodate two passengers and offers a maximum speed of 130 km/h with a range of 30 kilometres. Its compact design, standing at 1.93 meters in height and 5.73 meters in width, coupled with a maximum takeoff weight of 620 kilograms, aims to provide efficient transportation for short-to-medium distance journeys, says the official website of EHang.

According to information from the company's official website, key features of EHang's passenger-carrying electric unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) include full backup safety design, unmanned operation, and centralised management enabled by an intelligent command and control centre. EHang's command-and-control centre facilitates monitoring, dispatching, controlling, early warning, and centralised management of the flights of these flying taxis. 

The EH216-S runs on electric power, capable of being fully charged in two hours. The charging devices are equipped with real-time communication capabilities with the aircraft's Battery Management System (BMS). The EH216-S is also equipped with fail-safe safety systems and utilises 4G/5G high-speed wireless network transmission links for seamless communication with the command centre, states the official information.

EHang gained safety approval certification from China's Civil Aviation Administration (CAAC) in October 2023, a one-of-a-kind development of electronic vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicles.