China’s government is determined to lead the world in implementing urban air mobility, enabling companies like EHang to accelerate applications from emergency response to aerial sightseeing.
“The General Office of the State Council of the PRC has recently issued a circular proposing to accelerate the strategic development of Urban Air Mobility (UAM) in China,” an EHang press release announces. “The circular urges to bring the development of UAM into China’s National Strategies and to formulate relevant policies and standards to promote the healthy development of the industry. Such policies and standards, once made, are expected to lay a solid regulatory foundation that should pave the way for China to become the world’s largest UAM market.”
China, like many populated countries around the world, has seen increasing traffic and pollution problems in urban areas. UAM offers a new tool in tackling the problem. The development of a regulatory framework is necesssary before many drone applications like passenger transportation can be realized, however. In the absence of global standards, development has been difficult as governments unravel the intricacies of integrating unmanned vehicles into the airspace. China’s agency also urges that the development of drone regulations be prioritized.
“The circular also emphasizes the need to speed up the legislative process and promulgation of the official Interim Measures for Flights Administration of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), to establish a comprehensive regulatory mechanism for UAVs.”
The rapid development of urban areas throughout Asia has led to an explosion in large highrises. These high rise building pose a unique problem for firefighters – a problem that EHang has tried to solve with it’s automated aerial vehicle (AAV) platform. The Chinese State Council points out the firefighting use case for passenger drones. The circular “calls for establishing industrial standards and regulations to facilitate technological innovations that will promote industrial and practical applications of UAVs in aerial firefighting use cases,” says the EHang release.
“This circular issued by the State Council reflects the Chinese government’s great emphasis and strategic support for the new UAM industry. This will undoubtedly fuel the rapid development of UAM in China,” said EHang’s Founder, Chairman and CEO, Huazhi Hu. “As a leader in the global UAM industry and the only company authorized to initiate the Autonomous Aerial Vehicle (AAV) airworthiness program for UAM by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), we will seize this opportunity to strengthen our leadership in technologies and innovations based on the national policy and strive to assist regulators in establishing relevant regulations and standards. More efforts will be made to enhance the innovation and applications of our UAM technologies in specific use cases such as aerial firefighting. Furthermore, we look forward to offering UAM operational services to the society soon, leading the vigorous development of the industry in China and globally.”
Miriam McNabb is the Editor-in-Chief of DRONELIFE and CEO of JobForDrones, a professional drone services marketplace, and a fascinated observer of the emerging drone industry and the regulatory environment for drones. Miriam has penned over 3,000 articles focused on the commercial drone space and is an international speaker and recognized figure in the industry. Miriam has a degree from the University of Chicago and over 20 years of experience in high tech sales and marketing for new technologies.
For drone industry consulting or writing, Email Miriam.
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