China’s first urban air mobility (UAM) demonstration centre has opened at Shenzhen’s OH Bay leisure park, China Daily reports. The 4,600 square-metre facility is being touted as a major step forward for the country’s so-called “low-altitude economy.”
It features a takeoff and landing pad for a passenger drone – the EH216-S – made by the Guangzhou-based company Ehang, as well as a passenger waiting area, command-and-control centre, and other amenities.
The low-altitude economy comprises industries related to the development of manned and unmanned electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOL), which are set to perform the likes of package deliveries, air-taxiing services and sightseeing trips.
It has the potential to contribute up to 5 trillion yuan (US$703 billion) to China’s economy by 2025, according to recent reports.
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The EH216-S is a pilotless multicopter capable of carrying up to two passengers and acting like an airborne taxi. China’s Civil Aviation Administration gave it an airworthiness certificate in October.
EHang’s chief operating officer Fang Xin told China Daily that his company was “thrilled” to have the centre up and running.
“The UAM operations and services make up an elaborate system that requires comprehensive preparatory groundwork,” he said. “This [centre] will further drive the growth of the low-altitude economy industry in Shenzhen as well as in the Greater Bay Area.”
A subsidiary of the company, Pengcheng Wings, has been tasked with carrying out low-altitude UAM flights from the centre. Its chairman, Xu Guanshen, said he looked forward to “pioneering low-altitude operational demonstration cases” that extend throughout the Greater Bay Area.
