China begins mass production of flying taxis. The first commercial flights, scheduled for 2025

Autonomous flying taxis could soon become a reality, after vehicle manufacturer EHang obtained the world’s first production certificate to manufacture them in China, informs livescience.com, according to Agerpres.

The EH216-S, an electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) “unmanned passenger transport” vehicle produced by EHang, has received approval for mass production from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), they announced company representatives in a statement from April 7.

Many companies manufacture eVTOLs, but so far they have only been developed as prototypes for test flights. The new decision represents a notable step towards the commercial launch of eVTOLs.

“Our vision is to introduce safe and reliable unmanned eVTOL aircraft to the global market, thus providing safe, autonomous and environmentally friendly air mobility services for everyone,” said Huazhi Hu, CEO of EHang, in the statement.

The production certificate gives EHang the green light to manufacture flying taxis, including raw material procurement, supply chain management, quality control and testing, and after-sales repair and maintenance – all verified by comprehensive analysis and inspections.

Flying to the sky

First announced in 2018, EHang’s EH216-S is a small, all-electric VTOL aircraft with a carbon fiber fuselage and 16 propellers powered by 16 motors. It has a cruising speed of 100 km/h and can reach a maximum altitude of about 3,000 meters.

Designed for passenger transport, it can accommodate two people and has an autonomous driving system that eliminates the need for a pilot. The company EHang claims that its VTOL has been tested numerous times, both with a crew and without a crew. It is not the company’s first model, being developed after the EHang 184, “a passenger drone”, which was introduced in 2016.

EHang hopes that the EH216-S model will be used in business areas such as air taxi services, air tourism, airport transfers and inter-island transport.

The large-scale production of the EH216-S represents an important milestone in making unmanned eVTOL aircraft and similar aircraft a reality. It is the first eVTOL to be granted such certification, which in turn could make China the first country in the world to make flying taxis a service people can use.

The first commercial flights, scheduled for 2025

While the EH216-S is now approved for mass production, in October 2023 the CAAC published the Green Aviation Production Development Plan (2023-2035), which provides guidance to launch a pilot-operated eVTOL by 2025 and fully autonomous services on a large scale by 2035, including the need to establish practical regulations and insurance plans for flying taxis.

Instead, the United States’ Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) Implementation Plan has set 2028 as the year in which eVTOLs will first fly commercially, with appropriate regulations and certifications to manage their manufacture and use under of safety.

Given these announced timelines, China could be ahead of the United States in manufacturing – or at least testing – eVTOLs at the commercial level.

Publisher: CLB

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