EHang's EH216-S pilotless eVTOL aircraft has completed its first public flight in Hong Kong, taking off from Cyberport's waterfront vertiport under the HKSAR Government's Low-Altitude Economy Regulatory Sandbox X trial. The flight follows the start of validation flying in mid-August and forms part of efforts to demonstrate regular low-altitude operations across the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

During the demonstration, the EH216-S carried out vertical take-off and landing, low-altitude cruise and hover manoeuvres along pre-programmed routes at the Cyberport site. EHang will run further public flight sessions at Cyberport until 30 August to test system reliability and safety performance under high-frequency operating conditions. The trial is being run alongside Kwoon Chung Smart Mobility and Cyberport Management as the companies prepare the aircraft for commercial operations.

Zhao Wang, chief operating officer of EHang, says: “The first public flight of the EH216-S under the project marks an important validation under the sandbox approach and further demonstrates the maturity of our technology standards and safety systems. The sandbox approach provides a practical pathway for validating emerging aircraft and establishing regulatory frameworks, providing real-world flight data generated in a safe and controlled environment to support regulatory assessment.”

The EH216-S already holds Type Certificate, Production Certificate and Standard Airworthiness Certificate approval from China's CAAC, the first such set of approvals awarded to a pilotless human-carrying eVTOL. Hong Kong forms part of EHang's wider Global Fast Track Programme, through which the company is working to expand commercial deployment of pilotless eVTOL operations across Asia and other markets. The HKSAR Government has said dedicated legislation for non-conventional aircraft is being drafted, with completion targeted for 2027.