Take a ride inside Ehang’s fully autonomous, two-seater air taxi

About an hour’s drive from the company’s headquarters in Guangzhou, China, sits a test site for Ehang’s autonomous aerial vehicles.

Perched on the tarmac during CNBC’s visit was the company’s fully autonomous, two-seater air taxi.

“This is our EH216 model, and it is positioned for short-distance transportation or sightseeing in the city,” said Dong Wang, Ehang’s vice president of technical research and development. His interview with “CNBC Tech: The Edge” has been translated into English from Mandarin.

In October 2023, Ehang announced the EH216-S AAV had secured a “type certificate” from the Civil Aviation Administration of China, the country’s equivalent to the Federal Aviation Administration in the United States — a certification Wang said is a world first.

“The operation is fully automated. Its scheduling system runs on the server, so its route is automatically loaded, and then it carries out a completely automated route flight.”

The aircraft will cost $410,000 overseas, with a reduced price tag of 2.39 million yuan in China, equal to about $330,000.

“We also have a larger aircraft for transportation between cities. Because of this other aircraft, we also need to build a vertical take-off and landing flight site between cities,” Wang said.

Ehang plans to start commercial operations in China before the end of the year.

Take a tour of the EH216 and watch its test flight by clicking the video above.