EHang Holdings is participating as the only passenger eVTOL partner in the SAFIR-Med project. This stands for ‘Safe and Flexible Integration of Advanced U-Space Services for Medical Air Mobility’, and is a research and innovation project to promote the use of unmanned aviation in healthcare systems across the European Union. The project aims to ensure that healthcare is of high quality and accessible to all citizens of the EU. The project has selected 17 partners from eight countries and is supported by eight cross-industry advisory board members including EASA and the Red Cross. Within two years, the project intends to demonstrate advanced U-space services, enabling the highest possible operational safety level. These include detect-and-avoid as a service, dynamic geofencing and air traffic prioritisation rules.

EHang will use the EH216, its flagship two-seat passenger-grade AAV, and its Falcon medium-sized AAV to transport medical supplies in urban environments. The demonstrations will take place in collaboration with healthcare providers like hospitals and medical spaces in the cities of Antwerp in Belgium, Aachen in Germany and Maastricht and Heerlen in the Netherlands, leveraging the MAHHL trans-border region. The project results will then be further demonstrated in two additional locations in Europe, namely Athens in Greece and Prague in Czech Republic. Prior to the operational environment demonstrations, a de-risking exercise at the DronePort BVLOS test-facility in Belgium will take place.

EHang will help formulate a performance assessment and recommendations report, which will refine the current U-space architecture principles, propose operational procedures and mechanisms for an effective interface between air traffic control (ATC) and U-space service providers, and suggest a set of urban air mobility (UAM) indicators to complement the existing smart urban mobility indicators used by European cities. The project is among several managed by the SESAR Joint Undertaking in an effort to deliver solutions for U-space, the European Commission's initiative on the safe and secure integration of drones in European airspace.

Participation in the SAFIR-Med project marks another milestone for EHang in Europe following two major UAM programmes, the AMU-LED project supported by the European Union and the Re.Invent Air Mobility initiative launched in the Paris region. Leveraging its past regulatory breakthroughs and comprehensive partnership network, EHang will expand its global flight tour to more cities and showcase its leading AAV products and solutions in various use cases including passenger commuting and emergency medical transport, etc. As the world's first listed UAM company to achieve global commercialisation of its passenger-grade AAVs, EHang is also well positioned to work with all parties to facilitate product innovations and construction of a UAM legal framework in Europe.

EHang has also been selected as a key member of the Re.Invent Air Mobility initiative out of 150 applications from 25 countries to build the future UAM ecosystem in the Paris region of France, in preparation for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The initiative includes partners from vehicle development, ground infrastructure to airspace integration and operations, including aviation industry giants such as Airbus and Air France. As the only commercialised passenger-grade AAV solution provider and a pioneer of urban air mobility, EHang will take lead in the setup of a whole new transport ecosystem by taking advantage of its rich technical and operational experience. The initiative was launched by the Groupe ADP, RATP Group and Choose Paris Region in order to accelerate the maturity of both the UAM ecosystem and the regulatory framework in the Paris region.

Beginning in June 2021, tests will start to take place in a real aeronautical environment in the area of Pontoise and under the supervision of the French civil aviation authority (DGAC), supported by EASA and Eurocontrol. The whole end-to-end process from parking, takeoff and landing operations, as well as operational aspects are to be elaborated, and EHang can provide support with its rich experience that has been already put into practice in China on a broad scale. The exceptional initiative may help create a whole new sector and may make the Paris region a strong reference in the global market for urban air mobility.

EHang is also participating in the European Union GOF 2.0 Integrated Urban Airspace Validation project, which is a follow-up to the SESAR JU GOF U-space project. GOF 2.0 is focused on developing the safe, secure and sustainable integration of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) operations in urban airspace. As one of the 13 consortium members and the leading passenger electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) company, EHang is expected to ensure safe flight operations in all degrees of airspace in order to provide fair and efficient access to shared airspace.

SESAR JU GOF 2.0 was initiated in January 2021 to demonstrate the compatibility of existing air traffic management (ATM) and U-space systems and services. The project intends to show safe integration of unmanned aerial systems (UAS), eVTOLs and manned operations in a unified, dense urban airspace. A planned series of demonstrations in next two years will include highly automated real time separation and networks for air-ground communication.