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EHang showcased its drone at the North Carolina Transportation Summit hosted by the local transportation department. (Picture: EHang)

China’s flying taxi completes first test flight in the US

EHang's test in North Carolina is the company's first flight approval from the US Federal Aviation Administration

Ehang
This article originally appeared on ABACUS
Would you trust your life to an autonomous flying taxi? EHang’s huge passenger drone, which Abacus tested last year, had its first test flight in the US on Tuesday, but without anyone onboard.
EHang is one of many companies competing to put flying taxis in the sky, including Airbus, Uber and  Tencent-backed Lilium. EHang already received a licence to operate mobility services in Guangzhou and expects to start operating a line of commercial flying cars soon, company co-founder Derric Xiong told the South China Morning Post in an earlier interview.
The US flight is the first time EHang got flight approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), with the test taking place in North Carolina. But EHang might face more regulatory hurdles before it's able to start ferrying around customers. While China might have more of a need for flying taxis given traffic congestion, it’s still a long way to go from test flights to daily operation, according to experts.

EHang is controlled by state-owned aerospace and defense conglomerate Aviation Industry Corp of China. The company debuted on Nasdaq in December last year.

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