EHang 184: A Drone That Can Carry Humans

EHang Inc., a China-based drone maker, on Wednesday showcased what it calls the world's first Autonomous Aerial Vehicle at the Las Vegas Convention Center during the CES gadget show, The Associated Press reported.

A video featuring the EHang 184 describes it as “the safest, smartest and ecofriendly low altitude autonomous aerial vehicle aiming on providing medium-short distance transportation solution”.

It looks like a small helicopter but with four doubled propellers spinning parallel to the ground like other drones. It is apparently capable of carrying a human passenger – the cabin has space for one person and a small backpack and has air conditioning and even a reading light.

EHang said that the drone can be fully charged in two hours, carry up to 220 pounds and fly for 23 minutes at sea level. It is designed to fly about 1,000 to 1,650 feet off the ground with a maximum altitude of 11,500 feet and top speed of 63 miles per hour.

The drone-maker also explained that a passenger only needs to give two commands (after setting a flight plan) – "take off" and "land" – each controlled by a single click on a Microsoft Surface tablet. However, passengers would not any backup controls and the company plans to set up a remote control center that would take over the vehicle to ensure safe landing in case a problem arises.

“Passengers don’t need to learn how to fly it, they don’t need get to a pilot’s license,” EHang cofounder Derrick Xiong said in an interview. “They just need to press a button and then it vertically takes off, flies from point A to point B, and lands.”

EHang co-founder and Chief Financial Officer Shang Hsiao said the company hopes to sell the drone for $200,000 to $300,000 starting this year but admitted that it occupies a legal "grey area".

"The whole world never had something like this before," he said.