Flying taxi maker EHang announced Tuesday that it will build a manufacturing base in the eastern Chinese city of Hefei in a strategic partnership with state-owned automaker JAC Motors, as well as Hefei Guoxian Holdings, an investment firm backed by the Hefei municipal government. The initiative aims to standardize the production and use of key aircraft components and foster the development of a “low-altitude economy,” according to a joint statement. The news comes after Guangzhou-headquartered and Nasdaq-listed EHang said last April that it had secured what it called the world’s first airworthiness “type certificate” and production certification for its EH216-S fully autonomous drone from Chinese authorities. The company said in January that it delivered 216 such aircraft, mainly to Chinese state-owned enterprises, last year and has an order intake of more than 1,000 units, as Beijing has prioritized the so-called low-altitude economy as a strategic emerging industry. [TechNode reporting, EHang release]
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