Getting the hot coffee you just ordered in 7 minutes, commuting quickly in the morning rush hour, and delivering fresh fruit from the orchard to the table, these scenes that once appeared in science fiction movies are "flying" into the lives of ordinary people at an accelerated pace. This is precisely the convenience brought by the "low-altitude economy".
This year's National People's Congress and the National People's Congress, the "low-altitude economy" was written into the government work report for the first time, as a new quality of productivity, let people see the infinite possibilities of the "low-altitude" field. However, when unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and eVTOLs and other aircraft take off, does it mean the arrival of the era of "low-altitude economy"? The reporter learned in the interview that the "low-altitude economy" is ushering in a new round of development opportunities, but if you want it to really "fly", fly smoothly and fly more popularly, there is still a relatively long way to run.
eVTOL有望实现空中公交普惠性
"Low-altitude economy" refers to the economic form of manned or unmanned aircraft, manned or unmanned aircraft, manned and cargo at low altitude, or other matters. The application scenarios of "low-altitude economy" are very wide, covering logistics, tourism, agriculture, emergency rescue, commerce, education and other industries, involving all aspects of society.
At present, the "low-altitude economy" mainly includes several major areas such as flying cars, drones, and management operations. Among them, the eVTOL ("electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft"), which has entered the public attention in the "air taxi" mode, is known as a "pioneer" in the field of flying cars.
Because of its vertical take-off and landing, no runway, pure electric power, safer, environmentally friendly and quieter, eVTOL is expected to meet the needs of short-distance air travel within cities and between cities in the future, and the market size is expected to reach 500 billion yuan by 2035.
As a "Shanghai" company in the industry, Fengfei Aviation Technology Co., Ltd. has taken the lead in this field. At the end of March this year, the company's research and development of Fengfei 2-ton cargo aircraft - Kairuiou V2000CG unmanned aircraft system obtained the type certificate (TC) issued by the East China Bureau of Civil Aviation of China, it is reported that this is also the world's first tonnage or above eVTOL type certificate.
Fengfei's self-developed eVTOL Shengshi flew over Zhuhai Riyuebei. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
"In addition to commercial logistics, this unmanned aerial vehicle of more than one ton can also be used in emergency material transportation, island logistics, fire relief and other scenarios. Xie Jia, senior vice president of Fengfei Aviation Technology, told reporters.
On February 27, Fengfei's self-developed eVTOL Shengshilong completed a cross-sea flight in the Pearl River. Shenzhen and Zhuhai are located on the east and west banks of the Pearl River Estuary respectively, and the regular transportation between the two places takes 70 minutes by boat and more than 2 hours by car or railway. Fengfei's eVTOL Shengshilong flew from Shenzhen Shekou Terminal to Zhuhai Jiuzhou Port Terminal, 50 kilometers away, and the whole journey took only 20 minutes.
It has been revealed that at present, the manned version of Shengshilong is undergoing airworthiness certification related work, and it is expected to be certified in 2026 at the earliest.
In Xie Jia's view, different from the noisy and expensive use threshold of helicopters, eVTOL shows another possibility, it will be expected to achieve the inclusiveness of air bus, so it is also known as a golden key to open the frontier of the "low-altitude economy" in the future. At that time, "air taxis" may no longer be just words on paper.
It is no longer difficult to locate the "4th street lamp" and "6th tree".
Compared with the eVTOL "pioneers" played by Fengfei and other companies in the "low-altitude economy", some companies choose to take root in the field of traditional small UAVs to become bigger and stronger. For example, Meituan, which was the first to launch drone food delivery in the field of food delivery, arrives at the user end from the production end to the user side in about 7 minutes from the order to the air delivery.
According to the relevant person in charge of Meituan UAV, as of the end of March 2024, Meituan UAV has landed 28 routes in 11 business districts in Shanghai, Shenzhen and other cities, and its distribution services cover various scenarios such as offices, scenic spots, municipal parks, medical care, and campuses, with a total of more than 250,000 user orders.
Users in Shanghai wait to pick up their meals at CapitaLand Guozheng Centre. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
In this regard, the relevant person in charge of Meituan drone bluntly said: The existence of drones is mainly to make delivery scenarios that have a strong demand for timeliness or are difficult to reach by manpower.
Taking scenic routes as an example, if a user orders takeaway in a park in Shenzhen, there will be a problem that the delivery address is difficult to locate. In orders, some locations such as "4th street light" and "6th tree" are very common, but it takes a long time for delivery people to find these locations accurately in the park, which makes it difficult to ensure the user experience.
After using drone delivery, users only need to go to the food pick-up cabinet in the park to pick up food, which not only saves a lot of communication time, but also more than doubles the delivery efficiency compared with the past.
In Shanghai, drone delivery is mainly aimed at the delivery service circle within 15 minutes and a radius of 3 kilometers. According to Meituan, after trying drone delivery, it has improved efficiency by nearly 40% compared with the traditional model, saving users more than 10,000 hours of waiting time last year alone.
What are the challenges of the "low-altitude economy" in the future?
According to authoritative data, the industrial scale of mainland drones will exceed 120 billion in 2023, ranking first in the world.
"However, the development of aircraft is only the first step, and the real big challenge in the future is the construction of the entire operation system. Li Gang, chief researcher of the low-altitude economy of the Shanghai Yangtze River Delta Emerging High-end Promotion Center and former member of the air traffic control group of the UAV expert group of the Civil Aviation Administration, said bluntly.
He believes that the current demand for "low-altitude economy" in terms of cargo is very urgent, especially with the increase in cost control of logistics and transportation enterprises, as well as the continuous arrival of social aging, in the future, "low-altitude economy" cargo has a very wide range of application space. However, we should also recognize the three major "pain points" we are currently facing, that is, the construction of infrastructure, the breakthrough of business models, and the transformation of government functions.
Li Gang told reporters that generally speaking, the development of new things in the aviation field will encounter development pain points in top-level design, airspace management, technology, and application.
"In fact, as far as the current domestic technology is concerned, consumer-grade drones and industrial-grade drones have matured, and eVTOL manned technology has basically been available. The key, he said, is to address how to put it into commercial use, and the core issue behind it is whether infrastructure construction can be carried out smoothly.
Only by solving the problem of "stuck neck" can we really "fly".
"Whether it is communication, navigation, surveillance, meteorology, mapping and data center in hardware, or flight service system, operation system, and air traffic control system in software, these low-altitude economic infrastructure need to be planned and built systematically, and it is by no means a single effort. Li Gang said that only by solving these "stuck neck" problems can the "low-altitude economy" really "fly" and "fly" well.
"At present, the most urgent thing is to carry out refined management of airspace, and then through the construction of the air route network, let the aircraft fly first, and continue to build and continuously improve the air traffic control system and hardware infrastructure. Li Gang said.
The relevant person in charge of Meituan UAV also feels the same way in this regard, saying that the speed of urban airspace opening and the degree of refined management will have a huge impact on the willingness of enterprises to invest in related industries.
Drones deliver food delivery in Shanghai. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
"In fact, compared with the West, Chinese cities have their own unique characteristics, high-rise buildings, and extremely high density, which makes low-altitude logistics more complex in Chinese cities. The person in charge bluntly said that the development of urban low-altitude logistics needs to be participated in by all walks of life in the industry and jointly promoted.
The "low-altitude economy" was written into the government work report for the first time
During the two sessions of the National People's Congress this year, the "low-altitude economy" was written into the government work report for the first time. Recently, the official implementation of the "Interim Regulations on the Flight Management of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles" has also clarified the basic requirements of the mainland's airspace designation and flight activity application.
Nowadays, all parts of the country are constantly making suggestions for the development of the "low-altitude economy". Recently, the "Shanghai Low-altitude Collaborative Management Demonstration Zone" was unveiled in Jinshan, and the demonstration work of low-altitude collaborative management in Shanghai will be the first to be launched in the East China UAV Base.
"Shanghai Low-altitude Collaborative Management Demonstration Zone" was unveiled. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
How to make the UAV fly safely and orderly, and how to make the low-altitude economy develop rapidly under the framework of the new regulations, and how to optimize and improve it have become a new topic for the management department. It is reported that the demonstration work, first of all, takes collaborative management as an opportunity to fly efficiently and orderly and standardizes, and will explore new mechanisms and new opportunities to ensure the safe and efficient operation of Shanghai's low-altitude and better serve all kinds of operating entities.
The reporter learned that the demonstration area will be guided by scene applications and continuously enrich the low-altitude operation function. In the future, the demonstration effect of low-altitude management will be fully amplified here, combined with the content of Jinshan unmanned aviation test, focusing on the island seafood scene, urban medical care, and people's livelihood logistics scene, to create a low-altitude intelligent logistics and transportation system, and continuously promote the flight subject to carry out various flight services, and deeply integrate low-altitude operation services with low-altitude business services.
Xie Jia, senior vice president of Fengfei Aviation Technology, pointed out that new technologies need to fly and be used in new application scenarios in order to truly promote technological iteration and innovation, and also provide more data for regulators in the future.
In addition, many companies in the industry also said that in the long run, the development of the "low-altitude economy" has just begun, and the future can be expected. On the one hand, the current policy of reform and opening up of low-altitude airspace is very strong, and all localities are also vigorously promoting it; on the other hand, many pioneering enterprises have also accumulated some experience, which can help urban low-altitude logistics to achieve large-scale implementation in the future. However, it may be 5 to 10 years before it is fully realized.
Professionals also suggested that while effectively implementing the requirements of the "Interim Regulations on the Flight Management of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles", all localities can also promote the refinement and intelligence of airspace management and flight activity approval, and take multiple measures to ensure the safe and integrated operation of multiple operators and promote the full release of low-altitude resources with advanced technology through the establishment of an intelligent air traffic management system, the provision of refined management services based on flight tracks, and the setting of dynamic and reasonable flight intervals.
The header picture shows Fengfei Shengshilong completing the first demonstration flight of the Shenzhen-Zhuhai eVTOL cross-sea and cross-city route. Photo courtesy of the interviewee