ChinaOpensFirstNationalTestingCenterforFlyingCars

China’s first national testing center for low-altitude aircraft started operations in the southern province of Guangdong on Friday, granting flying car developers access to a dedicated testing airspace of 100 square kilometers.

The 8,600-mu (1,416-acre) Southern Testing Center features six long straight runways and more than four vertical takeoff and landing pads. Within the approved airspace, test flying vehicles can operate freely at altitudes below 1,200 meters without advance applications, and unauthorized external aircraft must secure the center’s permission to enter, a source familiar with the matter told Caixin.

This unprecedented access will significantly streamline the validation of emerging aerial technologies by bypassing China’s typically stringent airspace approval process, helping accelerate the commercialization of the country’s booming drone and flying car sectors.

Historically, domestic management of low-altitude airspace has been cautious. Aircraft makers usually rely on general aviation airports or enclosed private grounds for testing, where they must secure temporary airspace approvals that expire after just a few months.

General aviation airports primarily serve traditional fuel-powered planes and lack specialized testing support, meaning flying car developers must bring their own testing equipment. “The main pain points in the industry currently are slow airspace approvals, a lack of dedicated testing sites and high testing risks,” said Jia Siyuan, co-founder of a Hefei-based maker of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.

Even when companies establish private testing sites, their approved airspace typically spans just one or two square kilometers. While sufficient for basic maneuvers like takeoff, landing and hovering, such confined airspace cannot comfortably accommodate high-speed flights, complex maneuvers and extreme-condition stress tests required to assess an aircraft’s overall reliability. The Southern Testing Center offers the largest approved airspace among comparable facilities in Guangdong, the source said.

Beyond vast airspace, the center provides critical technological hardware including 5G-A network infrastructure that supports low-altitude communication, navigation and surveillance systems for flying cars. The network offers enhanced spatial perception and real-time flight tracking capabilities compared to standard 5G technology.

A single 5G-A base station can cost more than 6 million yuan ($870,000) and extends its coverage over just a one- to two-kilometer radius, an industry insider told Caixin. Due to the severe expense, most developers still run tests on 5G networks. In contrast, the Southern Testing Center is fully equipped with 5G-A base stations and a digital low-altitude supervision platform, helping developers build more robust verification mechanisms.

The testing center is a joint venture backed by state-owned enterprises including China Automotive Engineering Research Institute Co. Ltd., Guangzhou Automobile Group Co. Ltd. (GAC) and the China Quality Certification Centre. The facility is currently preparing to establish a pilot-scale testing platform specifically tailored to the province’s low-altitude economy.

The investment directly supports the Guangdong provincial government’s low-altitude economy action plan, released in June 2024, which called for the creation of open, full-lifecycle pilot testing platforms for low-altitude aircraft.

Guangdong is already a national hub for drone manufacturing, home to heavyweights like SZ DJI Technology Co. Ltd. and Autel Robotics Co. Ltd., and is rapidly nurturing a local eVTOL ecosystem. EHang Holdings Ltd. is expected to officially launch commercial operations of its autonomous passenger eVTOL in March, while XPeng Inc.’s aviation unit Aridge plans mass delivery by 2026. Govy Technology Co. Ltd., an eVTOL startup incubated by GAC, is actively advancing its airworthiness certifications as its Guangzhou factory readies for trial production.

Contact editor Ding Yi (yiding@caixin.com)