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On August 1, CRSC released its self-developed low-altitude airspace intelligent control system ID-Space 1.0 for the first time in Nanjing, and successfully escorted eVTOL aircraft above 1,000 tons, P4 vertical take-off fixed-wing drones, and multi-rotor drone integrated flights in Nanjing. More than two months ago, I wrote a short article about this field, and I am very happy that the "hope" is about to become a "reality".

I sometimes jokingly call frequent business trips "flying taxis". With the development of the low-altitude economy, the era of "flying taxis" may not be far away. According to the "Outline of the National Three-dimensional Transportation Network Planning", by 2035, the scale of China's low-altitude economic industry is expected to exceed 6 trillion yuan; during the same period, the number of commercial and industrial drones is expected to reach 26 million, and the number of drone pilots will also increase to 630,000.

Today we are going to Hangzhou. Tomorrow we will hold the "2024 China Enterprise ESG Sustainable Development Summit" with Xinhua News Agency's "Banyuetan" magazine in Moganshan. Before boarding the plane, I took a complimentary magazine, which contained a group of articles about the low-altitude economy. After reading these articles carefully, I admire the vision and courage of Chairman Qi Liang of China Communications Signal and Communication Corporation.

Low altitude usually refers to the space area close to the ground, which can generally be understood as the area below 1,000 meters, but there is no unified standard internationally. Some people say that it can be extended to 3,000 meters.

Low-altitude economy refers to a comprehensive economic form that is driven by low-altitude flight activities of various manned and unmanned aircraft, radiating and driving the integrated development of related fields. Specifically, it is mainly based on civil manned and unmanned aircraft, covering low-altitude flight activities in multiple scenarios such as manned, cargo and other operations.

These flight activities have further promoted the integrated development of related fields and formed a comprehensive economic form.

From the perspective of the industrial chain, the low-altitude economy includes the upstream spacecraft manufacturing, midstream service operations and downstream applications, involving multiple industries such as general aviation manufacturing, logistics, tourism, agriculture, emergency rescue, commerce, education, etc. Some institutions predict that the market size of the low-altitude economy will reach 1.5 trillion in 2025 and is expected to reach 3.5 trillion in 2035.

I imagine that if the low-altitude economy is to truly form a scale and achieve explosive growth, it should be like in science fiction movies, with all kinds of small planes flying around in the sky above the city, and people taking a "flying taxi" to go to work. After reading these articles, I feel that there is a lot to look forward to, and the most anticipated one is the development of eVTOL.

eVTOL is a general term for electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft, which are suitable for urban air traffic, tourism, aerial firefighting, disaster relief, medical rescue and other scenarios. It has the advantages of vertical take-off and landing, intelligent operation, low cost, low noise, and zero emissions. Especially for urban air traffic, vertical take-off and landing must be carried out and unmanned intelligent operation must be carried out. Otherwise, even if there are air routes, manual operation cannot be absolutely safe.

A very critical and important technical support is needed here, which is the control system. All the aircraft in the sky must be concentrated into one system. Judging from the current performances of up to 3,000 drones forming various complex patterns without any mistakes, this is completely possible. China Railway Signal & Communication Corporation has the technical foundation and advantages from controlling high-speed railways on the ground to controlling aircraft in the sky. In this sense, it makes sense for the research of China Railway Signal & Communication Corporation to enter the field of low-altitude economy.

eVTOL is no longer just an imagination and PPT. The world's first operational and practical flying car was invented by an American company called Terrafugla in 2009. The company was acquired by Geely in 2017 and its product was named "Taili Flying Car". Xiaopeng Motors officially entered the market in 2020. Its design concept is similar to that of Taili Flying Car, except that the two wings are replaced with foldable propellers. Among the companies making flying cars, the more famous ones abroad include Joby and Archer in the United States, Eve in Brazil, vertical in the United Kingdom, and lilium in Germany, all of which have been listed on the U.S. stock market. In addition to Ehang, Geely, and Xiaopeng in China, GAC has also publicly displayed a product. In addition, there are a group of new generation startups, such as Fengfei Aviation, Shi Technology, Volant Aviation, Yufeng Future, Zero Gravity, etc. They have all received huge financing. According to data from relevant international market research companies, the global eVTOL market size was US$6.937 billion in 2021 and is expected to reach US$30.519 billion in 2030, with a CAGR of approximately 18.3% from 2022 to 2030.

In November 2023, Guangzhou-based Ehang Intelligent received the world's first unmanned manned electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft type certificate and standard airworthiness certificate issued by the Civil Aviation Administration of China. On February 27, 2024, the five-seater e-aircraft Shengshilong, known as a flying car, flew from Shenzhen to Zhuhai for the first time, shortening the ground travel time of about 2 hours to 20 minutes. In the next 3-5 years, the first batch of eVTOLs that complete airworthiness certification and put into operation should have automatic flight functions.

my country attaches great importance to the development of low-altitude economy. In February 2021, the concept of low-altitude economy was written into the national plan for the first time in the Outline of the National Comprehensive Three-dimensional Transportation Network Plan; in December 2023, the Central Economic Work Conference formally positioned low-altitude economy as a strategic emerging industry; at the 2024 National People's Congress, low-altitude economy was written into the government work report for the first time, and will be used as an emerging industry and future industry to create a new growth engine; on March 27, 2024, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other four departments issued the Implementation Plan for the Innovation and Application of General Aviation Equipment (2024-2030), which clearly stated that it is necessary to accelerate the upgrading of general aviation equipment technology and promote the cultivation and implementation of low-altitude economic application scenarios. With the support of policies and continuous technological progress, low-altitude economy is expected to become a new economic growth engine in the future.

Each round of development and take-off of emerging industries is a major opportunity, and a number of leading enterprises will emerge. In the development of the Internet, there are Tencent, Alibaba, Baidu, JD.com, etc., in the development of clean energy, there are Trina Solar, Jinfeng, etc., in the development of the battery industry, there are CATL, BYD, etc., but there are few central enterprises and state-owned enterprises. Now that the low-altitude economy is coming again, I hope that central enterprises will not be absent again.

(May 10, 2024, CA1712 Beijing-Hangzhou)

Qiguan Guozi is the official WeChat public account of Qidian Observer Newspaper. Qidian Observer is an all-media platform guided by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council and hosted by the China Enterprise Reform and Development Research Association. It is recognized by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council as a "state-owned enterprise's own public opinion platform" and is committed to reporting on the reform and development of Chinese enterprises from a professional, market-oriented and international perspective.

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