South Korea conducted a first successful test flight of an autonomous aerial drone taxi in Seoul it sees as the first in a future urban air mobility transport system.
The Made-in-China Ehang EH216 drone taxi made by Guangzhou-based company Ehang successfully flew for seven minutes at an altitude of 50 meters on Wednesday. It overflew a 3.6 kilometer-long flight path over the Han River, Yeouido, Seogang Bridge, Bamseom islet and Mapo Bridge.
The demonstration flight was arranged jointly by the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. It was the first time a drone developed for use as an aerial taxi has flown above the capital area.
The ministry plans to launch an aerial taxi service as early as 2025. It plans to open 10 air taxi terminals nationwide by 2030. South Korea is currently developing its own "K-drone traffic management system."
The pilotless Ehang EH216 air taxi is designed to carry a pilot and a passenger. It's powered by eight electric motors driving 16 propellers for vertical takeoff and landing.
The aerial taxi has a maximum speed of 160 km/h and a cruising speed of 130 km/h. It has a range of 16 km.
The EH216 can travel from Incheon International Airport to Yeouido in 20 minutes at a maximum speed of 130 kilometers per hour. During the test flight, however, the drone carried four 20-kilogram sacks of rice instead of people due to safety concerns.
Seoul is also preparing for more test flights. Some of these flights will take place at the Seoul Smart Mobility Expo scheduled for June 2021.
The pilotless drones have already been tested in the suburbs of Seoul and will later be tested in the city's dense urban center.
In September, the ministry tested a different autonomous drone food delivery service in Sejong City, an administrative hub 130 km southeast of Seoul. In Sejong, five drones delivered meals and other products to people at homes two to three kilometers away within 10 minutes.
Ehang said it plans to establish a "verti-hub" which will be the terminal where aerial drone taxis will take-off and land. The first verti-hub will be built at Gimpo International Airport in western Seoul along with Korea Airports Corporation.
If and when it's built, the Gimpo verti-hub will be the world's first such facility for aerial drone taxis.
Seoul plans to increase public interest in the aerial drone taxis by conducting additional test flights in other regions in 2021. Demonstration flights will be held in Daegu and Jeju Island, which have expressed interest in air mobility.
