Recently, urban air mobility (UAM) technology company EHang Holdings Ltd (EHang) announced that Japan's first urban air mobility (UAM) center has been built in Tsukuba City, Ibaraki Prefecture.
The center will provide demonstration flight venues, ground infrastructure and maintenance bases for EHang's multiple unmanned electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft products, mainly the EH216-S. The completion of this urban air transportation will greatly promote the development of Japan's advanced air transportation industry.
Tatsuo Igarashi, Mayor of Tsukuba City, attended the launch ceremony and witnessed the demonstration flight of the EH216-S unmanned manned aircraft in an aerial sightseeing scene. This was also the first flight of the EH216-S in the Kanto region of Japan.
EHang, headquartered in Guangzhou and founded in 2014, is an urban air transportation technology company dedicated to realizing safe, automatic and environmentally friendly air transportation. In addition to the Guangzhou headquarters, it also has branches in California, the United States, Dusseldorf, Germany, Beijing, and Shanghai, China, providing unmanned aircraft products and solutions to customers in various industries around the world, covering manned transportation, logistics transportation, and smart cities.
EHang has been expanding its influence in the global market. In 2023, the company became a member of Japan's Advanced Air Transportation Government-Enterprise Cooperation Committee. It is the only unmanned eVTOL company among the 56 committee members and plays a key role in promoting Japan's innovative air transportation plan. So far, the EH216-S unmanned eVTOL aircraft has successfully flown in 12 cities in Japan, demonstrating a variety of applications in different scenarios such as aerial sightseeing, island-hopping transportation, air logistics and emergency rescue.
Hu Huazhi, founder, chairman and CEO of EHang, said, "Congratulations on the opening of Japan's first UAM center. This is an important milestone in the UAM field, bringing the public one step closer to a new era of transportation. EHang will continue to Join hands with partners to promote safe, autonomous and environmentally friendly UAM solutions in Japan, and are committed to providing our driverless eVTOL services to the global public to make everyone's life better."