Fascinating! Guangzhou’s Unmanned Aircraft Light Up the Spring Festival Gala

The 2026 CCTV Spring Festival Gala was filled with rich cultural atmosphere and a strong sense of technology. The stunning scene of 16 “flying taxis” taking off in formation and lighting up the stage deeply impressed audiences. These “flying taxis” are named the EH216-S passenger-carrying autonomous aerial vehicle, an electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOL) independently developed by EHang, a local enterprise in Huangpu, Guangzhou.

The spectacular performance of 16 EHang EH216-S aircraft on the Spring Festival Gala stage set a new record for the largest number of unmanned passenger-carrying eVTOL aircraft flying simultaneously in public, vividly demonstrating China’s development strength in the low-altitude economy during the Chinese New Year festivities.

Currently, the EH216-S operator, which has obtained one of the first batch of national Operation Certificates (OC) for passenger-carrying civilian unmanned aerial vehicles, has already started trial operations in Guangzhou and Hefei.

EHang has developed a diverse product portfolio. In addition to the EH216-S showcased at the Spring Festival Gala, it also offers the long-range model VT35, with a full-load range of no less than 200 kilometers; the EH216-F firefighting autonomous aerial vehicle designed for high-rise firefighting; logistics autonomous aerial vehicles; command and control centers; and drone formation services. Moreover, EHang’s subsidiary EHang Egret’s GD4.0 drone formation, comprising 22,580 drones, also appeared at the 2026 Spring Festival Gala, breaking the record for the largest number of drones flown simultaneously in a performance and earning the Guinness World Record title for “Most unmanned aerial vehicles simultaneously airborne under the control of a single computer.”