Chinese drone maker Ehang launches trial of flying taxis
February 27, 2018 Category Technology, Weekly
In Guangzhou earlier this month 40 people, including Deputy Mayor Wang Dong, took a ride in an autonomous flying taxi. The Ehang 184 drone flew the passengers on round trips of up to 15 kilometers, with some reaching the top speed of 130 km per hour. “This makes you feel like you have traveled into the future, like you’re in a sci-fi movie. But this is real,” Ehang’s Founder and Chief Executive Hu Huazhi said in a company video that showed footage of the flight tests. “It’s so easy and stable, the operation is very simple. I’ve flown so many helicopters, but nothing feels like this,” he added.
The successful manned flights of the Ehang 184 come as technology companies and governments seek new ways to optimize urban transport and mobility. Ride-hailing companies such as Uber and Didi, as well as Alphabet subsidiary Waymo, are testing autonomous driving technology which companies believe will improve safety on roads. Sharing autonomous cars could also eliminate the need for car ownership.
“Companies like Ehang and any form of mobility-on-demand, whether with wheels or without, is something that you’re liable to see experimented with as a way of getting away from the congestion problem in China’s densely populated urban areas,” said Bill Russo, Founder and Chief Executive at Shanghai-based strategy and investment advisory firm Automobility. “This is a three-dimensional world, we shouldn’t just be limited to traveling on the flat plane of the earth. Why not go vertical?”
To fly the Ehang drone, passengers input their flight path into the control system, tap a button and the drone will take them there. At present, the electric-powered flying taxi has a limited range, but Ehang said it is stable enough to fly in thunderstorms and even typhoon conditions. In the event that something goes awry, a human pilot in a control center can take over piloting of the drone remotely, the South China Morning Post reports.
The company does not yet have a concrete timeline for when its drones will be ready for public use, and is currently working on adding optional manual controls to allow passengers with piloting experience the choice to fly the vehicle manually. The fact that China is amenable to new ideas is proof that it is serious about solving some of its most entrenched problems, according to Russo. “We need a place in the world where you can dream big and hope to achieve something within a reasonable period of time, and more recently that place has been in China,” he said. “The lack of legacy in China lends itself to creating the future, as opposed to defending the past.”
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