(Yicai) April 30 -- Central China's Wuhan has opened the nation's first public service spot for drone and vertical take-off and landing aircraft companies to accelerate the development of the low-altitude economy.

China's first dedicated window for the low-altitude economy at a public service center was set up in Wuhan's East Lake High-tech Development Zone yesterday, Yicai learned. Low altitude refers to aircraft flying below 3,000 meters off the ground.

The scale of China’s low-altitude economy is expected to top CNY1 trillion (USD138.3 billion) by 2026, according to the China Center for Information Industry Development. 

Four-fifths of Wuhan-based enterprises engaged in the research and development, production, and sales of drones, as well as flying such unmanned vehicles are located in the area, and some of them have industry-leading R&D advantages in surveying, mapping, thermal imaging, and data transmission, Huang Feng, deputy director of the zone's management committee, told Yicai. Since the beginning of last year, the zone has seen almost 11,570 drone flights with a total of nearly 6,180 hours and a coverage of 300 square kilometers.

GDU Tech, a drone company that offers emergency and smart city solutions, has cooperated with authorities on urban and water management, as well as traffic, since November 2022 to build a demonstration area within the zone, Chen Hu, general manager, said to Yicai.

After the first phase of the project, GDU has provided six public institutions with services reading traffic, firefighting, environmental protection, and emergency, Chen said. The plan is to offer services in 28 urban governance scenarios and six scenarios related to economic development and people’s livelihood after the second phase is ready in October, the GM added.

Wuhan is quickly developing its low-altitude service industry but the upstream parts of the industry chain, such as the supply of key components and drone manufacturing, are lagging, partly because local university graduates tend to be better at application instead of making hardware in comparison to those of other major cities, Li Lingling, secretary general of Hubei's provincial unmanned aerial vehicle association, told Yicai.

Moreover, most drone startups are privately owned so they face the common obstacles of insufficient capital, talent, and market demand, which makes it more difficult for manufacturers to succeed, Li said. "It is particularly obvious in Wuhan."

Editor: Emmi Laine