An electric vertical take-off and landing or eVTOL flying car developed by XPeng AeroHT – the flying car unit of Chinese electric vehicles maker XPeng – on Sept 13 embarked on a milestone flight.

It completed a cross-river demonstration flight between the Haixinsha Asian Games Park in  Tianhe district and the Canton Tower in Haizhu district of Guangzhou, the capital of South China's Guangdong province.

That flight path is also set to become the first urban low-altitude passenger flying route to be opened in Guangzhou.

XPeng AeroHT's eVTOL flying car flies by the Haixinsha Asian Games Park in Tianhe district on Sept 13. [Photo/WeChat account: tianhefabu]

The company signed a cooperation framework agreement with GZCCI Low-Altitude Industrial Investment and Guangzhou Industrial Investment Fund Management – both the subsidiaries of Guangzhou City Construction Investment Group, or the GZCCI Group – on the day.

They'll jointly explore other industrial development opportunities in the low-altitude industry – including research into take-offs and landing site construction, low-altitude commercial development and investments in low-altitude new infrastructure funds.

Based on Canton Tower, they're scheduled to establish a low-altitude flight test network in Guangzhou.

The first phase of the "1+10" take-off and landing points will be introduced, with the ones on the Canton Tower and in Haixinsha park to be completed by the end of this year.

The three parties plan to jointly develop commercial application scenarios for eVTOL aircraft.

They include urban commuting and emergency rescues, pattern commercial operations models, and pricing strategies to improve public awareness and acceptance of low-altitude commercial services.