China’s “low-altitude economy” is taking off

YOUR CORRESPONDENT’S heart raced as the door thudded shut. She was alone in the plush two-seat vehicle, but too nervous to take much pleasure in the leather upholstery and panoramic windows. The 16 propellers arranged in a circle around the passenger cabin began to turn, and then the electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft—to all intents and purposes, a self-flying car—began to rise smoothly into the air. It climbed to a height of about 50 metres, affording sweeping views of the cranes and docks of an industrial neighbourhood of Guangzhou, before descending again to the same spot from which it took off, at the headquarters of EHang, the company that made it. EHang had invited The Economist to try out the vehicle, just after a social-media influencer and just before an investor in the firm. But in March EHang became the first eVTOL-maker in the world to receive a licence to carry passengers commercially. It is planning to start offering flights to the public soon in Guangzhou and another big city, Hefei.