HT Aero, partially owned by Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer XPeng, has unveiled the urban usage scenarios for its fifth-generation XPeng X2 aircraft, including autonomous flight take-off and landing for specific city scenarios, back-end scheduling, charging and flight control.

The X2 is equipped with a flight control system and autonomous flying capabilities. It is able to conduct autonomous flight route planning with real time imaging, real time flight monitoring, two-way real time communications, environmental perception and autonomous return and landing. It is powered by an efficient and convenient charging system, leveraging XPeng's supercharging technology.

Before takeoff the system performs autonomous flight route planning based on the destination entered by the user, evaluating factors such as surrounding buildings, restricted areas and weather conditions.

The XPeng X2 is the latest aircraft independently developed by HT Aero, having conducted more than 15,000 manned flights. It is an electric two-seater flying vehicle with significantly improved effective load, passenger number, exterior design and flight control system than the previous generation. Adopting a closed cockpit for the first time, the X2 shares a similar design to the XPeng P7 electric car.

With a full carbon fibre structure the X2 weighs 560 kilograms when empty and has a maximum takeoff weight of 760 kilograms with a capacity of two passengers. It can cruise at a maximum speed of 130 kilometres per hour and has a range of 35 minutes at a flying height of under 1,000 meters, suitable for low-altitude urban flight scenarios. Powered solely by electricity, the X2 has no carbon dioxide emissions during flight, keeping in line with its goal of green urban transportation.