Spreading Wings

TWO accidents changed the direction of HuHuazhi’s life.

One was the death of a pilot friend whohit a power line while flying an aircraft tospray pesticide. The other was the death of his helicopterinstructor during a mission. The two tragediesdeeply affected Hu， today founder， president，and CEO of EHang， the autonomous aerial vehiclecompany based in Guangzhou， south China， andmade him determined to develop a pilot-less aircraftthat could carry passengers safely.

In 2014， he founded EHang， which focuses onresearch and development of unmanned aerialvehicle systems and solutions. Genetics probably"had a role in his career path since Hu comes froma family of engineers. When he was a young boy，he was fond of animals that can fly and learnedhow to make high-quality kites. At the age of nine，he became interested in computer programming，which led him to study a major in computer scienceat Tsinghua University.

During his college years， Hu’s hobby was collectingaircraft models. He began to learn the structuresof different models， including fixed-wingplanes， helicopters， biplanes， and monoplanes.Later， with a friend he established a museum inBeijing， displaying thousands of airplane models.He also obtained a license to fly fixed-wing aircraftand helicopters.

In 2005， Hu founded a company to provide"large-scale computer command and controlsystems. Then in 2013， he learned about multiaxisaircraft， which have a simple structure thatfacilitates hovering with a low crash rate. At thattime， communication industries such as mobilenetworks， smartphones， and smart hardwarewere emerging and enterprises， especially mobilephone companies， were adopting microsensors.Hu believed these technologies could be used todevelop automated systems for unmanned flights.Subsequently， he winded up his dispatch businessin Beijing and moved to Guangzhou， which had acomplete drone industry chain.

EHang became the world’s first eVTOL companyto go public， listing on the Nasdaq stockexchange in 2019. It has many passenger-carrying"eVTOL models， including a one-seater and a twoseater.Their narrow size enables them to take offfrom and land in narrow areas. In 2019， Hu receivedthe Technology Innovation Award given by theAmerican organization Living Legends of Aviationfor his contribution to urban air mobility， becomingthe first Chinese to receive the recognition.

According to He Tianxing， vice president ofEHang， compared with traditional aircraft， theeVTOL， which is intelligent and integrates manytechnologies， has higher safety and lower operation，maintenance， and service costs. The manyadvantages ensure its use in multiple scenariossuch as emergency rescues and transportation inurban low-altitude airspace， which is a huge industrialdriving engine.

In June 2021， EHang’s eVTOLs took part in aunique emergency operation， assisting the Guangzhoumunicipal government’s fight against COVID-19. They were used as first responder vehiclesand built an air emergency channel in the city. Asthey are now operating in more parts of China， thecompany plans to start air sightseeing services insix cities.

Overseas， EHang has expanded its footprint to17 countries in Asia， Europe， and the Americas. Forexample， last year it opened its European UrbanAir Mobility Center in Catalonia， Spain， the firstsuch center in Europe， extending its reach to Latin"America and Africa. It also has an alliance withthe Spanish National Police， Spanish national airnavigation service provider ENAIRE， the cities ofSeville and Zaragoza， and international telecommunicationsleader Telefónica. This September，it successfully completed the first trial run of itsEH216-S pilotless two-seater eVTOL in Brazil. InOctober， it announced a four-city flight tour inJapan， ahead of the 2025 Japan Expo.

EHang also has the Middle East in its sights. InMay， it completed its first autonomous passengercarryingflight in Abu Dhabi， the UAE. A monthlater， it completed its first autonomous air taxiflight in Mecca， Saudi Arabia， in partnership withFront End， a Saudi-based enterprise.

“The low-altitude economy can become thebiggest transformation led by the transportationindustry during the next decade，” He Tianxing said.“It integrates big data， cloud computing， artificialintelligence， new materials， and new energy. Allemerging industries will develop around the lowaltitudeeconomy， which has unlimited opportunitiesfor innovative development.”

With supportive policies and improvement inthe management of the low-altitude economy overthe past years， several eVTOL enterprises haveemerged in China. According to data from Qichacha，the Chinese business database， by August2024， there were 71，300 low-altitude economy relatedcompanies in China， and the annual registrationvolume is increasing. In 2023， there were 9，000registered enterprises， a year-on-year increase of37.17 percent.

This marks that eVTOL products are enteringthe stage of large-scale production， laying a newfoundation for the development of the low-altitudeeconomy.