World's first passenger drone delivers Christmas gifts! Chinese-made #Ehang184 marks the holiday's festivity with a high-tech aerial delivery.
World’s first passenger drone makes Christmas deliveries in smoggy Guangzhou
The Ehang 184 is coming for your job.
On Christmas Eve, China’s official Xinhua news agency broadcast a Facebook live stream of the world’s first passenger drone taking off into the smoggy skies of Guangzhou to deliver presents to kids.
The Xinhua reporter introduces the Ehang 184 and talks with its developers before the drone takes flight. Where Santa would typically have to rely on Rudolph’s nose to guide the way, the drone is able to find its own path through the muck and mire.
Guangzhou-based Ehang is China’s leading drone maker. It unveiled the Ehang 184 last January and since then people have been wondering what its future applications might be. The electric drone can carry up to a single person for 30 minutes on a single charge with an average cruising speed of 100 kilometers per hour (62mph) and a ceiling of 3,000 meters above sea level.
While so far promises of using the drone as a self-flying taxi in Dubai have not come to fruition, the company is still confident that the Ehang 184 will become profitable within the next two years.
If you want to become your own high-tech Santa, you can purchase one for the handsome sum $300,000 USD.
The use of UAVs, or drones, has been popular in recent years. Once used primarily for recreation by hobbyists, drones are now used in military operations and for conducting research. More recently, commercial companies have explored using drones to transport merchandise. Since 2011, several commercial developers and amateur builders have conducted short manned flights on experimental electric multi-rotor craft. In January 2016, the first commercially produced drone capable of carrying a human was introduced by Chinese entrepreneurs.