I took a trip to Shenzhen recently and found something new. Shenzhen is testing an unmanned air taxi, which is an enlarged version of a small drone. The air taxi has 8 arms and 16 propellers, and can vertically lift like a small drone. The two-seat air taxi is unmanned, and everything is controlled remotely.
The air taxi in the test was developed by Guangzhou Yihang Intelligent Company. The company demonstrated this manned-level self-driving aircraft at the Guangzhou Trade Fair in October 2021. This air taxi is driven by pure electric power. It has reached 35 kilometers and has attracted a lot of attention.
A friend who has tried an air taxi said that the air taxi is very stable when flying, and there is no such loud noise as a helicopter, and the takeoff and landing are very comfortable. Some people worry regarding the safety of unmanned air taxis. In fact, air taxis are controlled remotely, and their flight routes have been planned.
All key components in Guangzhou EHang’s manned drones, including flight control systems, sensors, power systems, batteries and management systems, have multiple backups to ensure flight safety. If a component fails during flight, the backup spare will seamlessly take over. In addition, there are 16 propellers, so there will be no accident that a single propeller of the helicopter fails. In addition, the flight control system has a built-in “fail-safe” system, which can evaluate the health of the aircraft in real time. Once it collides with a bird and the fuselage is damaged, the system will automatically judge whether the aircraft can continue to fly, or choose a place for emergency landing.
It is said that the price of each air taxi is 2 million RMB, and Shenzhen also plans to build 200 air taxi mini-airports to provide services. This is indeed an extremely innovative plan.
According to the “Guangdong Provincial Comprehensive Transportation System (14th Five-Year) Development Plan” released in 2021, it is proposed to support the development of new industries and new models, support Guangzhou, Shenzhen and other places to explore new urban commuting models such as air taxis, and develop unmanned transportation at the same time. Urban supporting application scenarios such as drones and unmanned vehicles. Foreign companies such as Uber are also working on air taxis, but Shenzhen may be the first to do so.
The innovation and development in the mainland is advancing rapidly, and many of them are used to serve the people’s livelihood. For example, members of the Hong Kong Legislative Council visited the BYD depot earlier, and saw BYD’s “Yunba” unmanned driving the elevated railway. A few days ago, Shenzhen opened the first Pingshan Yunba Line 1, with a total length of 8.5 kilometers, from Pingshan High-speed Railway Station to BYD North Station. “Yunba” is also unmanned. It has functions such as wake-up, automatic sleep, automatic entry and exit, automatic charging and disconnection, etc. It is a brand-new short-distance small collective transportation tool.
Seeing the rapid development of the Mainland, it is inevitable that Hong Kong has wasted too much time. In the 26 years since the reunification, Hong Kong politics has taken charge, and the government has spent a lot of energy to deal with endless political challenges. I once heard of a bureau chief who spent a lot of time practicing in order to answer questions in the Legislative Council. On the eve of attending the question and answer, he mightn’t sleep, and the next day he went to be “slaughtered” by members of parliament with trepidation. Officials don’t have time to think regarding policies to improve people’s livelihood.
Lo Wai-kwok, a member of the Legislative Council in the engineering sector, has been criticizing that Hong Kong’s railway development is extremely backward. In 2014, the government proposed a railway development strategy, planning to build seven railways, all of which would be completed by 2031, but in reality many railways would never work. After the completion of the new development area, the transportation facilities have not been connected, which makes it extremely inconvenient for residents to come and go. In fact, the thinking of officials is understandable. In the past, the Legislative Council kept filibustering. Every year nearly 100 billion yuan of construction projects might not be approved.
Today, Hong Kong should wake up. After 26 years of politics, it once developed to the point of uncontrollable fanaticism, and the society paid a heavy price. If you don’t advance, you will fall back. Hong Kong must now catch up and concentrate on developing the economy and improving people’s livelihood, especially in the application of innovative technology.
