Unveiled at CES in Las Vegas in 2016, the all-electric driverless EHang 184 megadrone has four arms with a total of eight propellers at the end.
The company says it has been testing the EHang 184 megadrone with ‘thousands of test flights’ with human passengers over the last four years.
The drone is described as the world’s first ‘Autonomous Aerial Vehicle’ for transporting people although it is still not known when the company will make the drone available.
The quadcopter can fly more than 9.3 miles (15km) and has a high-speed cruising speed of 80.7mph (130km/h).
It is capable of automatically carrying a passenger through the air, simply by entering a destination into its accompanying smartphone app.
The 184 uses multiple independent flight control systems to automatically navigate passengers from point A to point B
The 184 uses multiple independent flight control systems to automatically navigate passengers from point A to point B.
These systems combine real-time data collected from sensors throughout the flight and automatically plots the fastest and safest route to carry passengers to their destinations.
EHang will also have a command centre that employs people to make sure everything is safe — sort of like an air traffic controller at an airport.
The command centre will monitor every 184 in the air 24/7 and the company plans integrate with existing air traffic controller operations.
The command centre would, for example, make sure that a 184 doesn’t take off in extreme weather conditions.
In the event something does go wrong, a pilot can take control remotely.