Is Ehang STILL Hanging in There?

It will be powerful to determine what’s happening with Ehang.  In October, DRONELIFE reported that a credible supply stated the corporate was contemplating chapter.  Per week later, firm CEO Derrick Xiong stated the rumors had been false and the corporate was in a “very good financial position.”  In November, Ehang’s PR consultant had an interview with DRONELIFE reiterating that whereas the corporate was closing abroad workplaces, it was nonetheless going sturdy and would “focus on commercial efforts.”  But that may not have been the entire story: Ehang, the Chinese drone producer making the Ghost drone quadcopter and the Ehang 184 passenger drone, seems to have filed for chapter in the CA courts.

It’s arduous to see what meaning.  According to the court docket submitting, filed two days earlier than the top of 2017, the corporate’s property are below $500,000 and their liabilities higher than $1,000,000.  But the worldwide web site remains to be up, the Ghost remains to be on the market, and as lately as final week the corporate was on the SXSW Festival asserting the flight readiness of the Ehang 184: it might simply imply that Ehang didn’t pay the hire on their CA workplaces.

In some ways, the corporate’s issues could also be as a result of their concepts had been just too far out forward of laws and infrastructure.  Ehang first wowed the gang at CES in January of 2016, once they launched the world to the primary autonomous passenger drone.  But because the drone trade understands all too properly, know-how usually precedes laws and business use instances.  In the years that it takes to excellent and set up a business mannequin for an progressive know-how like passenger drones, many worthwhile firms could wrestle to maintain going.   The first autonomous automobiles had been developed in the 1980’s, however we nonetheless haven’t seen them enter the mainstream.

Over the final a number of months, Ehang has penned offers with healthcare firms to offer medical drone supply for organ transplants; launched new Ghost fashions; and signed testing agreements for the Ehang 184 with the state of Nevada.  Additionally, the corporate says that they plan to launch a 2 passenger drone, the Ehang 284, this summer season.

As city air mobility turns into a extra related matter all over the world, passenger drones might very properly be an import a part of these efforts.  And as the primary participant to essentially present the US what a passenger drone seems to be like, Ehang has staked a declare in that area.  Let’s hope that the business functions seem shortly sufficient to assist new improvement.