The electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) flying car, developed by XPeng AeroHT, a subsidiary of Chinese electric vehicle maker XPeng, completed its trial flight in the Tianhe central business district (CBD) of Guangzhou on March 8.

Setting off from the Heli Tianhe Plaza, the flying car flew over the district's landmarks like the Guangdong Museum, Huacheng Square, and the Haixinsha Asian Games Park and finished at the Canton Tower in Guangzhou's Haizhu district.

XPeng AeroHT's eVTOL flying car flies by the landmark buildings in the Tianhe CBD on March 8. [Photo/WeChat account: tianhefabu]

Zhao Deli, founder and president of XPeng AeroHT, underscores the criticality of implementing low-altitude flights in urban zones.

"We used to fly in sparsely populated areas, but flying over the CBD of a city can show the future of air traffic," Zhao added.

Diverse eVTOL aircraft, which have been autonomously developed by companies such as GAC Group, AutoFlight, and EHang, are also on display at the Heli Tianhe Plaza on the same day. [Photo/WeChat account: tianhefabu]

Guangzhou completed its development plan for the low-altitude economy last year, according to He Tonglin, a researcher at the management committee of the Guangzhou Airport Economic Zone.

The scale of Guangzhou's low-altitude economy is planned to reach 210 billion yuan ($29.23 billion) by 2027 and 650 billion yuan by 2035.