EHang Holdings Ltd, an urban air mobility technology platform company, announced on Friday that its self-developed passenger-carrying unmanned aerial vehicle system, EH216-S, has obtained the type certificate officially issued by the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

This demonstrates that the EH216-S's model design fully complies with CAAC's safety standards and airworthiness requirements, as well as two-seater air taxi being qualified for conducting passenger-carrying UAV commercial operations.

The Guangzhou-based company said as the world's first certification for unmanned electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOL), the EH216-S not only sets a benchmark for the airworthiness certification of innovative eVTOLs in China and overseas, but also serves as a milestone for commercial operations for urban air mobility.

The UAVs have a wide range of applications, covering areas such as manned transportation, aerial tourism, aerial logistics, medical emergency response and fire rescue.

Hu Huazhi, founder, chairman and CEO of EHang, said the company will launch commercial operations of the EH216-S passenger-carrying UAV system, prioritizing safety above all.

A report from Morgan Stanley forecasts that the global urban air mobility market is projected to be worth $1 trillion by 2040 and $9 trillion by 2050.