EHang to build world’s first E‑port for AAVs

EHang is to con­struct the world’s first E‑port for autonomous aer­i­al vehi­cle (AAV) ser­vices in Chi­na, and plan for it to be com­plete and ful­ly oper­a­tional by the end of the year.

In an announce­ment made yes­ter­day (Wednes­day), the com­pa­ny will co-oper­ate with a local part­ner in Hezhou, Guangxi Province, to build the three-storey build­ing, which will fea­ture a recep­tion hall, pas­sen­ger wait­ing area and departure/arrival zone.

A fleet of 20 two-seater AAVs, named the EHang 216, will be deployed for aer­i­al sight­see­ing and four land­ing pads locat­ed on the roof will accom­mo­date the land­ing and tak­ing off of four AAVs simul­ta­ne­ous­ly.

Hu Huazhi, Founder, Chair­man and CEO of EHang, said: “Hezhou is a beau­ti­ful city with rich tourism resources and we are excit­ed to enhance their appeal with our AAVs. As we progress, we intend to cre­ate more com­mer­cial appli­ca­tions for EHang AAVs, such as aer­i­al sight­see­ing that can unique­ly merge mod­ern cul­ture and tourism.

“We also wel­come more local part­ners to join us and embrace the oppor­tu­ni­ty to a pro­vide safe, autonomous, and green approach to trav­el and sight­see­ing,”

EHang added that it hopes the project will pro­mote Hezhou as a mod­el city for air tourism, and enhance the indus­try in oth­er cities locat­ed in Guangxi Province.