NCIE
NCIE
China is the first in the world to license an unmanned flying taxi
The eVTOL eHang EH 216 air taxi concept was unveiled at CES 2016. Over the course of seven years, the company's engineers turned the prototype into a taxi that was fully ready to transport passengers. It was recently licensed by Chinese regulators for commercial passenger transport in the domestic market. The aircraft can travel at a speed of up to 130 km/h with two passengers and has a range of about 30 kilometers.
An important factor influencing the decision to grant a patent was the proven reliability and simplicity of the design. The model has made about 40,000 successful test flights on short-distance tourist routes in different regions of the country. The EH 216 is based on a 16-pin circuit powered by rechargeable batteries. At the same time, multiple replication of systems is provided, which ensures a high level of reliability and, accordingly, security.
eHang's electric air taxi is considered safer than any aircraft with a conventional engine. At the same time, it is believed that the possible facts of the EH 216 crashes and crashes were covered up by the Chinese authorities and not covered by the state-controlled local media. But that seems unlikely given the simplicity of the device's design. While the rest of the world is moving at a snail's pace towards air taxi certification, China has become the first country in the world where it can already become widespread.
This will give China an advantage over overseas competitors, and eHang will become a world-class leader in the industry. This is more likely if we consider that the certification of similar cars in the EU is expected only after 2024.
