Chinese autonomous aerial vehicle developer EHang has partnered Guangzhou Development District Communications Investment Group to launch the 5G Intelligent Air Mobility Experience Centre at the Innovation Park in Huangpu District, Guangzhou (Canton), China. As part of the partnership, EHang and GDDCIG have established a joint venture for local UAM route planning and AAV operations.

The Experience Centre is designed as an operation spot with infrastructure for EHang AAVs under the 100 Air Mobility Routes Initiative. As EHang’s first urban air mobility pilot city, Guangzhou has taken the lead in investing in urban air mobility (“UAM”) infrastructure construction in the city and surrounding region. Several operational flight routes have been planned and tested for passenger transportation, aerial sightseeing, and aerial logistics in Guangzhou.

The 5G Intelligent Air Mobility Experience Centre covers an area of 2,000 square meters and has a rooftop take-off and landing vertiport as well as a hangar for power charging and maintenance. Powered by the 5G telecommunication networks, it relies on the EHang’s command-and-control system platform to enable trial operations for the EH216, Falcon B and other eVTOL models, for various UAM and smart city management applications. The 5G Intelligent Air Mobility Experience Centre is integrated with an Automatic Guided Vehicle Parking Garage which provides a convenient infrastructure for a transfer experience in car travel and aerial trip in the future.

EHang and GDDCI have founded this joint venture not only for the creation of the 5G Intelligent Air Mobility Experience Centre but also for local UAM route planning and AAV operations. The UAM maps across four central areas in Guangzhou’s Huangpu district and several operational flight routes have been planned and tested for passenger transportation, aerial sightseeing, aerial logistics and smart city management.

Chengjiu Zhou, General Manager of GDDCI, said, “By leveraging the 5G Intelligent Air Mobility Experience Centre, we will develop an intelligent air mobility ecosystem integrating the hardware, software, takeoff and landing platform and operation services in Huangpu district.”

Huazhi Hu, Founder, Chairman and CEO of EHang, said, “Guangzhou is EHang’s first global urban air mobility pilot city and the 5G Intelligent Air Mobility Experience Centre has become the latest operation spot under the 100 Air Mobility Routes Initiative. We will use the world’s leading AAV technologies and command-and-control system to provide intelligent, comprehensive solutions for urban air mobility and smart city management in Guangzhou. We expect to build Guangzhou into a model city for UAM and have plans to extend it to more cities across the country and worldwide.”