World's first passenger drone given green light for US testing

The world's first passenger drone has taken one giant leap towards reality after the US state of Nevada has granted Chinese manufacturer Ehang a licence to begin testing its Ehang 184 passenger drone at a government approved test site.

The agreement, with Nevada's governor's office, is seen by some as a historic moment for the autonomous passenger drone transportation but there's still a long way to go before full approval by the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) will be granted.

Capable of carrying a passenger weighing up to 100kg for a 23-minute flight at altitudes of up to 3.5km, the Ehang 184 was one of the unexpected stars at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Taking just two hours to charge with a quick charger, the new pilotless drone can also reach speeds of more than 100km/h but now must prove its worth as the drone will be put through thorough testing for regulatory approval.

To help fine-tune its fully-autonomous flying abilities, Ehang has partnered with the Nevada Institute for Autonomous Systems (NIAS). NIAS will help Ehang pass the notoriously tricky FAA regulatory process.

Nevada has already earned the reputation as being a "friend of self-driving developers" as the home of Las Vegas was one of the first places in the world to allow autonomous vehicles testing on its network of roads and highways.

Originally starting life as a manufacturer of camera drones for professionals and hobbyists, Ehang hopes its 184 could be as revolutionary as Google's self-driving car when it launches on the road and believes that in uture the quad-copters could form a fleet of sky taxis for busy cities.

Ehang has not yet submitted any timescale for how long it thinks the 184 will take to pass federal state air worthiness tests. Nor has it yet shown a working prototype, but the FAA-approved location will allow it to begin evaluating scale models before building a full-size prototype.

Aviation experts think the biggest challenges for these early flying prototypes will be detecting power lines -- obstacles that might prove so difficult to avoid that in the future the answer might lie in dedicated 'clear' flight paths for autonomous flying vehicles to navigate.

Dedicated safety systems for the 184 will also be mandatory before the passenger drones become approved.