This is a personal drone, a mini-helicopter for people to fly.

EHANG Personal Drone

The Ehang 184 AAV (autonomous aerial vehicle) is a personal drone that can travel over 60 mph with flight time of roughly 25 minutes. The drone is a one seater with the ability to lift around 220 pounds. It's powered by electricity and built with the driver's safety as the number one priority. If any systems on the drone are acting abnormally the vehicle can still operate a normal flight plan. The AAV is also constantly communicating with the low-altitude command center. If there are extreme weather conditions in your area the command center will actually lock your drone and not allow take off.

With Ehang's fail-safe system if any components disconnect, the aircraft will land in the nearest area as soon as possible. The communication on the drone is encrypted and each AAV has it's own independent key to avoid hacking. What might be the coolest part of the 184 AAV is the ability to pilot the drone with one click. When you enter your destination the drone will rise in u shaped pattern and later land in the desired area.

But this can also be a bit scary because this is actually the only way to fly the drone. In case of emergency, the EHang 184 will be piloted by someone sitting in a command center and help you land safely at the “nearest possible location”. Keep in mind Ehang still has to build these centers and find qualified pilots that can take on the responsibility of flying drones from a distance.

According to announcements, the 184 should cost between $200K - $300K, which does seem a bit expensive considering it shouldn't cost too much to produce one relative to helicopters that hold more than one passenger and can travel longer than 25 minutes.

On February 6, 2018, Ehang announced that the 184 has achieved manned test flights. It safely carried up to two passengers, including Ehang's CEO and all executives as well as Guangzhou government officials. It required 150 engineers, over 1,000 days of research and development, and over 1000 flight tests to make it perfect. Lets give a round of applause to EHANG 👏

184's First Manned Flight

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