On December 27, the reporter learned from the website of the National Development and Reform Commission that the "low Altitude Department" was officially established in the "institutional setup" - "Organs and bureaus" of the National Development and Reform Commission. According to the official introduction, the Low-altitude Department, full name of the "Low-altitude Economic Development Department," is responsible for drafting and organizing the implementation of low-altitude economic development strategies, medium and long-term development plans, putting forward relevant policy recommendations, and coordinating relevant major issues.

 

In fact, as early as October 2024, there was news that the relevant ministries of the State planned to establish a special low-altitude economic management bureau. Today, the official establishment of the competent authorities, to the already hot low-altitude economic track to add a fire, but also marks China's low-altitude economic development into a new stage.

 

In the future, the low-altitude Department will coordinate the development of low-altitude economy, solve the practical problems faced in the development process of low-altitude economy, such as airspace management, safety supervision, technical standards, etc., standardize the order of industry development, and ensure the healthy and orderly development of low-altitude economy. The Low Altitude Division is now operational. According to the news on the website of the National Development and Reform Commission on December 27, recently, the low-altitude Department held a symposium to promote the construction of low-altitude infrastructure, as well as a symposium to promote the construction of low-altitude intelligent network systems.

 

It is understood that as early as 2010, the term "low-altitude economy" has appeared, at that time, the low-altitude economy is still in the conceptual stage, and the industrial development is slow. In 2021, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and The State Council issued the Outline of the National Comprehensive Three-dimensional Transportation Network Planning, which for the first time included the concept of "low-altitude economy" in the national planning, and clearly proposed the development of low-altitude economy. In December 2023, the Central Economic Work Conference clearly listed low-altitude economy as a strategic emerging industry. In 2024, the "low-altitude economy" was first written into the government work report at the National Two Sessions, and then the "Implementation Plan for the innovative application of General aviation equipment (2024-2030)" issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Civil Aviation Administration of China and other four departments proposed that by 2030, the low-altitude economy will be promoted to form a trillion-level market scale.

 

Low-altitude economy has become a hot word in 2024, and the pace of commercialization continues to accelerate. At present, the main products in the low-altitude economy field are flying cars, drones (consumer grade, industrial grade), helicopters, traditional fixed-wing aircraft and so on. The low-altitude economy has a strong correlation with the automobile industry, especially the flying car has become a hot air, and the major car enterprises have accelerated the layout of the low-altitude economic boom, Xiaopeng, Changan, Geely, Chery, GAC and so on have entered the board.

 

At present, Xiaopeng Hutian, Wufei Changkong, GAC GOVE and other flying car-related companies have attracted much attention, and behind them are mainstream car companies such as Xiaopeng Automobile, Geely and GAC Group. Among them, Xiaopeng Huitian recently announced that its "land aircraft carrier" split flying car will debut at the 2025 CES show. Xiaopeng Huitian also previously said that the "land carrier" plans to complete the first delivery in the first quarter of 2026, and the price of a single unit is not more than 2 million yuan.

 

The engineering development and commercial application of the AE200 and VoloCity low-altitude manned aircraft of Geely Technology Group are accelerating, with the former making its debut at Airshow China 2024 in November. On December 12, Wufei Changkong Global headquarters base started construction in Chengdu, which also means that the mass production of AE200 has been on the road. It also recently emerged that Geely plans to acquire an 85% stake in German flying taxi startup Volocopter.

 

On December 18, GAC Group released a new flying car brand "GOVY High Domain", and the first composite wing flying car GOVY AirJet also debuted. Previously, in June 2023, GAC's first flying car GOVE debuted, and in September this year, it obtained a civil unmanned aircraft special flight certificate issued by the Central South Regional Administration of Civil Aviation of China.

 

In addition, on December 21, around the flying car, Changan Automobile and Ehang Intelligence signed a strategic cooperation agreement. Zhu Huarong, chairman of Changan Automobile, said that in the next five years, Changan Automobile will invest more than 20 billion yuan in the low-altitude economic field to rapidly promote the development of the flying car industry.

 

Chery has also entered the game. At the 2024 Chery Global Innovation Conference held in October, Chery revealed the latest progress of its "three-body composite wing flying car" and displayed the corresponding prototype.

 

It is worth noting that the technological overlap and complementarity between flying cars and new energy vehicles is a major reason for attracting car companies to lay out flying car tracks. Some analysis institutions pointed out that the core technologies such as batteries, motors, electronic controls, and intelligent driving applied in new energy vehicles have a reuse ratio of up to 70% with flying cars. The mature management model of the automotive supply chain can also help the flying car quickly achieve large-scale mass production.

 

Because of this, battery manufacturers such as Ningde Times, Zhongchuang New Aviation, Guoxun High-tech, and Funeng Technology are also aiming at the low-altitude economic track to develop batteries with higher energy density.

 

Now, with the official establishment of the "low-altitude Department" of the National Development and Reform Commission, the top-level design resonates with the industrial trend, and the low-altitude economy, including flying cars, is expected to ride the wind and have great potential.

 

Originally published by China Automotive News, December 30, 2024