onebyone
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Jul 2, 2014
- Messages
- 7,550
- Reaction score
- -6
- Country
- Location
China plans to launch flying taxis by 2025
Chinese government announces ambitious timeline but its not clear local drone makers will have the tech or security clearance to flyBy JEFF PAOAUGUST 31, 2022
An EH216-S flying vehicle developed by EHang Photo: www.ehang.com
China’s government has set an ambitious timetable to allow flying vehicles to carry passengers for short distances by 2025.
On August 22, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) started a two-week public consultation on the country’s plan to allow taxis to fly on streets within short distances by 2025, middle distances by 2030 and long distances by 2035.
The timetable matches with that of the United States as American flying vehicle makers and airlines have targeted to launch their all-electric ride-sharing services in 2024.
However, a Chinese columnist says in an article that the commercial launch of flying taxis in China will be easier said than done as a lot more testing is needed to ensure safety.
Amazon, the Seattle-based e-commerce giant, started its drone delivery program in 2013 but it pushed forward the program slowly after crashes.
In August 2020, the company was approved by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to operate its Prime Air delivery. In June this year, it said its customers in Lockeford, California, would start receiving package deliveries by drone later this year.
On May 10, the FAA told Reuters in a statement that it was modifying its regulatory approach for pilots of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, or flying vehicles. On May 26, it granted an air carrier certification to Job Aviation Inc, a California-based eVTOL aircraft maker, which planned to start its flying taxi business in 2024.
SF Express Co Ltd, a Shenzhen-based delivery services and logistics company, started its drone delivery program in June 2017. It received a certificate to provide drone delivery services in China in May 2018.
Staff members of SF Express test to deliver parcels with robotic drones. Photo: Twitter / Technode.com
JD.com, a Beijing-based e-commerce company, also in 2018 started its trial drone delivery schemes in remote cities in Sichuan, Shaanxi and Hainan provinces. The company said at that time that it would – together with Nvidia, a US technology firm – produce one million drones by 2023.
Last week in a public consultation paper the CAAC exuded confidence in the Chinese program:
It said that by 2025 China would standardize the flying routes and requirements for all its delivery drones and keep improving its telecommunication and monitoring systems. It said many technologies, including GPS, Beidou satellite systems and laser and ultrasound sensors, would be applied to locate and guide the drones.
The CAAC said that flying taxis would be allowed to travel short distances within the city by 2025. It said initially the flying taxis would take off at irregular times and places but then would graduate to providing services on a regular basis.
The consultation came after Jin Zhuanglong, party secretary and minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), took office last month to replace former MIIT chief Xiao Yaqing.
Xiao has been under investigation by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection since mid-July. He, together with some other arrested IT officials and company executives, were blamed for failing to achieve the expected results after the central government poured over 300 billion yuan (US$43.4 billion) into the “Big Fund” set up to invest in the industry since 2014.
Jin, an expert of aviation technology, was praised by Chinese media in early August for his contributions in pushing forward China’s self-developed C919 narrowbody passenger jet.
Currently, well-known Chinese drone makers include DJI Technology, Guangzhou Xaircraft Technology Co Ltd and Guangzhou EHang Intelligent Technology Co Ltd.
Last December, DJI was among companies placed by the US Treasury Department on an investment exclusion list as its drone technology was allegedly used for the surveillance of Uighur Muslims in western China.
A spokesperson of EHang said: “By releasing the consultation paper, the CAAC has shown a clear direction for China to develop its unmanned aerial transport system by 2035. The announcement is a big positive push for China’s drone sector.”
An EHang flying delivery vehicle. Image: EHang website
“China is gradually opening up its low-altitude area for drones while the technology of unmanned driving is also becoming more and more mature. Whether it is carrying goods or people, unmanned driving is undoubtedly a key part of our future development,” Hu Huazhi, founder and chief executive of EHang, said in a forum on August 25.
A Chinese IT columnist wrote in an article on the same day that many Chinese automakers and drone manufacturers had started building flying vehicles but whether they could enter mass production was not only a technology but also a policy problem.
He said air traffic control was a very sensitive issue in China and was managed by the Chinese army. He said that although some Chinese cities had already opened low-altitude areas for drones, civil aviation regulators and the public security department would not likely relax regulations in the short run, especially in large cities.
China plans to launch flying taxis by 2025
China’s government has set an ambitious timetable to allow flying vehicles to carry passengers for short distances by 2025. On August 22, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) sta…
asiatimes.com
