China just approved flying taxis – no pilot needed • Hacker News Board

Re: China just approved flying taxis – no pilot needed

#11

Post by _kava » Sat, Apr 12, 2025, 7:01 PM UTC

It is both amazing and sad to see China is literally in the future compared to the US in terms of infrastructure and social development.

A trip to one of the major cities in China made it clear to me that they are ahead of the world right now. The amount of tech and the level of integration are unbelievable. In comparasion, the streets of SF, one of the crown jewels of the US technosphere, are just so "normal" I find it hard to believe.

It is the same feeling I had decades ago walking into a then-modern metropolis in the US for the first time. All the cool tech, the convenience, the upscale atmosphere, the extravagance of it all were striking. I have not felt that again for a while and I just think it can't happen again with what I am already used to now. Incredible that China managed to evoke that sense of awe in me again.

Re: China just approved flying taxis – no pilot needed

#12

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Apr 12, 2025, 7:05 PM UTC

wat10000 wrote: post #10

ein0p wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More degrees of freedom, easier collision avoidance. The mechanical part is a lot harder, of course, but the "self driving" part is a lot easier. We had autopilot and auto-land in planes well before we had anything of the sort in cars.

A self driving car needs to be able to reliably drive within ~1 foot of arbitrary obstacles, recognize junk in the road, recognize people in the road, obey vague hand signals from random cops, obey every weird traffic sign in the world, obey every traffic law, and disobey signs and laws when convention requires it. Helicopters don’t have to deal with any of that. There won’t be any random obstacles. No human drivers…

[deleted]

Re: China just approved flying taxis – no pilot needed

#13

Post by sepositus » Sat, Apr 12, 2025, 7:10 PM UTC

_kava wrote: post #11

It is both amazing and sad to see China is literally in the future compared to the US in terms of infrastructure and social development. A trip to one of the major cities in China made it clear to me that they are ahead of the world right now. The amount of tech and the level of integration are unbelievable. In comparasion, the streets of SF, one of the crown jewels of the US technosphere, are just so "normal" I find…

Is there hard evidence of this beyond random anecdotes? Genuinely curious as I haven't visited there.

Re: China just approved flying taxis – no pilot needed

#14

Post by perihelions » Sat, Apr 12, 2025, 7:13 PM UTC

Here's an alternate source,

https://www.flyingmag.com/china-approves-passenger-operation... ("China Approves Passenger Operations With Self-Flying Electric Aircraft")

With some clearer wording on what's been approved so far,

- "Early EH216-S operations will come with heavy limitations, which EHang said it aims to lift in phases. For example, flights are restricted to Guangzhou and Hefei and must land where they lifted off[...] In other words, the EH216-S is approved for applications like out-and-back aerial tourism but not air taxi services in cities."

(I don't want to derail this thread too strongly, but the current source looks very much like AI slop. The text is egregiously LLM, and, if you zoom in [0] on the people in the backgrounds of the photos, there's some Lovecraftian horror going on with those faces!)

[0] https://engineerine.com/wp-content/webp-express/webp-images/...

Re: China just approved flying taxis – no pilot needed

#15

Post by JCattheATM » Sat, Apr 12, 2025, 7:19 PM UTC

_kava wrote: post #11

It is both amazing and sad to see China is literally in the future compared to the US in terms of infrastructure and social development. A trip to one of the major cities in China made it clear to me that they are ahead of the world right now. The amount of tech and the level of integration are unbelievable. In comparasion, the streets of SF, one of the crown jewels of the US technosphere, are just so "normal" I find…

> social development.

How are they ahead in this regard? Tech is one thing, but social credit scores and the level of censorship seem regressive rather than progressive to me.

Re: China just approved flying taxis – no pilot needed

#16

Post by yoyo458 » Sat, Apr 12, 2025, 7:20 PM UTC

It doesn't mention how much noise does it make. Even though it's electric, drones are usually damn noisy and annoying, and something of this size can't possibly be any better.

Re: China just approved flying taxis – no pilot needed

#17

Post by bamboozled » Sat, Apr 12, 2025, 7:21 PM UTC

sepositus wrote: post #13

_kava wrote: post #11

It is both amazing and sad to see China is literally in the future compared to the US in terms of infrastructure and social development. A trip to one of the major cities in China made it clear to me that they are ahead of the world right now. The amount of tech and the level of integration are unbelievable. In comparasion, the streets of SF, one of the crown jewels of the US technosphere, are just so "normal" I find…

Is there hard evidence of this beyond random anecdotes? Genuinely curious as I haven't visited there.

Have you been to SF? It’s like a zombie movie with shocking public transport. There are many nicer cities which seem futuristic compared to SF. I’ve not been to a Chinese metropolis but if you just look at some photos it wouldn’t be hard to imagine somewhere like Shenzhen being much further ahead.

Re: China just approved flying taxis – no pilot needed

#18

Post by lazypenguin » Sat, Apr 12, 2025, 7:22 PM UTC

sepositus wrote: post #13

_kava wrote: post #11

It is both amazing and sad to see China is literally in the future compared to the US in terms of infrastructure and social development. A trip to one of the major cities in China made it clear to me that they are ahead of the world right now. The amount of tech and the level of integration are unbelievable. In comparasion, the streets of SF, one of the crown jewels of the US technosphere, are just so "normal" I find…

Is there hard evidence of this beyond random anecdotes? Genuinely curious as I haven't visited there.

Strange comment, there’s plenty of videos of both locations on YouTube to make the comparison and I think it’s quite apt. Chinese (and other SEA) major cities definitely feel much more modern than most American cities these days. Most American metropolitan areas are quite bland/bleak outside the “beautified” green areas.

Re: China just approved flying taxis – no pilot needed

#19

Post by malshe » Sat, Apr 12, 2025, 7:24 PM UTC

sepositus wrote: post #13

_kava wrote: post #11

It is both amazing and sad to see China is literally in the future compared to the US in terms of infrastructure and social development. A trip to one of the major cities in China made it clear to me that they are ahead of the world right now. The amount of tech and the level of integration are unbelievable. In comparasion, the streets of SF, one of the crown jewels of the US technosphere, are just so "normal" I find…

Is there hard evidence of this beyond random anecdotes? Genuinely curious as I haven't visited there.

Chinese cities like Shanghai have been world class for a long time. The last time I was there, I had a dinner with a client on the outskirts of Shanghai. I took multiple subways to reach there and found that neighborhood quite ordinary and starkly different from Shanghai itself. Of course this is also an anecdote but gives you a different perspective. I also know a few people who visit China often and they tell me the cities are definitely futuristic.

Personally I think Singapore is the most futuristic city-state in the world.

Re: China just approved flying taxis – no pilot needed

#20

Post by sepositus » Sat, Apr 12, 2025, 7:25 PM UTC

lazypenguin wrote: post #18

sepositus wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there hard evidence of this beyond random anecdotes? Genuinely curious as I haven't visited there.

Strange comment, there’s plenty of videos of both locations on YouTube to make the comparison and I think it’s quite apt. Chinese (and other SEA) major cities definitely feel much more modern than most American cities these days. Most American metropolitan areas are quite bland/bleak outside the “beautified” green areas.

> A trip to one of the major cities in China made it clear to me that they are ahead of the world right now

Sorry, I should have been more clear, this is what I was referencing. I have been to SF recently and would agree it's not hard to make a lot of cities look better in comparison.