EHang has been inducted as a member of Japan’s Public-Private Committee (PPC) for Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), a platform for those in the public and private sectors on adopting flying vehicles in Japan.
Said to be the only autonomous eVTOL provider among the 56 PPC members, EHang will contribute its expertise in Autonomous Aerial Vehicle (AAV) technology to promote the AAM ecosystem for safe eVTOL aircraft operations in Japan.
The PPC was jointly established by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) in 2018 to discuss eVTOL technology and system development for various nationwide AAM applications and services with the united respective strengths of government ministries, scientific research institutions, experts, aircraft manufacturers, and service suppliers.
The METI and MLIT collaboratively released a roadmap on implementing AAM in society, including objectives for the Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan, as well as passenger transportation service in urban areas, tourist areas, mountainous regions, and isolated islands, as well as for logistics in times of disaster. The roadmap also involves development of the unmanned aircraft.
According to EHang, its been in a long-standing interrelationship with Japan. In the past two years, EH216-S AAV has expanded its trial flight footprint in six cities across Japan for multiple use case demonstrations, which have been welcomed by the local government, MLIT, as well as EHang’s customers and partners including the leading Japanese air mobility digital platform company AirX, and the Japanese aerospace research institution MASC, both members of the PPC. Earlier this year, EH216-S carried out Japan’s first passenger-carrying flight by an autonomous eVTOL aircraft, following its completion of Japan’s first point-to-point flight by an eVTOL aircraft last year.
Xin Fang, Chief Operating Officer of EHang, said: “We are excited to become a member of the PPC, Japan’s largest alliance for AAM. We believe our exchange and collaboration with other members, especially backed by our advanced AAV technologies and trial flight experience in Japan, will bring new concepts for enhancing synergies to facilitate Japan’s future AAM revolution.”
