“Flying Cars: The Strategic Main Track of the Low-Altitude Economy” — Professor Zhang Yangjun of Tsinghua University outlined a visionary blueprint for the future of three-dimensional transportation at the university’s 114th anniversary celebration.

At present, the low‑altitude economy has been elevated to a national strategic emerging industry, with policy benefits continuing to unfold. Professor Zhang Yangjun points out that the low‑altitude economy will undergo a three‑stage leap—moving from consumer‑grade drones to industrial‑grade drones and ultimately to transportation‑grade flying cars. Looking ahead, the core growth engine of this trillion‑yuan market will gradually shift from industrial applications toward a three‑dimensional transportation system, epitomized by eVTOLs (flying cars). Flying cars will usher in a new era of low-altitude transportation, Reconfiguring urban forms and transportation paradigms to catalyze a low‑altitude economy worth trillions of yuan represents the strategic main track of the low‑altitude economy. 。

From the perspective of technological evolution, electric propulsion systems for flying cars are broadly categorized into two major technical approaches: ducted fans and rotor-based designs. Given that conventional rotor‑based propulsion systems pose safety risks due to the lack of effective protection for rotating components in human–machine interfaces, Upgrading flying cars to ducted‑fan propulsion systems is an inevitable trend for meeting higher safety standards. . Further subdivided, ducted electric propulsion can be categorized into propeller‑ducted systems and turbofan‑ducted systems; compared with the former, Thanks to its outstanding advantages of high specific thrust and high efficiency, the turbofan ducted‑fan electric propulsion system is poised to become the mainstream development direction for electric propulsion systems in flying cars.

For many years, Weihang Technology has been deeply engaged in turbine‑ducted fan electric propulsion technology, establishing a comprehensive design framework for turbine‑ducted fan electric propulsion systems, and… High efficiency, lightweight, and high safety It has extensive technical expertise in three key areas. To address the challenges of fire rescue in urban high-rise buildings, Weihang Technology has independently developed the world’s first “ducted-fan high-altitude tethered (power‑and‑fluid‑supply) firefighting drone system.” . This system seamlessly integrates a high-thrust ducted-fan aerial platform with a fire‑fighting chassis, while ensuring that the overall dimensions of the fire truck remain only 10×2.55×4 meters , while ensuring prompt arrival at the fire scene, it can also rapidly ascend to One hundred meters above the ground , in order to A sustained liquid flow rate of 20–30 L/s enables prolonged firefighting operations. , effectively addressing the global bottleneck in firefighting for high-rise urban buildings and emerging as the next-generation primary firefighting platform. Its unique technological approach resolves critical pain points in urban fire protection, while, within the existing regulatory framework, it avoids the limitations associated with civilian manned or logistics eVTOLs in Powertrain technology, airspace utilization, and the commercial closed loop The issues that remain difficult to resolve at this stage represent the first batch of eVTOL commercial use cases that can be rapidly scaled and deployed.

Through extensive flight testing and real-world deployment in low‑altitude emergency firefighting scenarios, Weihang Technology will drive the continuous advancement of core electric ducted‑fan jet propulsion technologies and the engineering iteration of ducted‑fan flight platforms. The company will also be among the first to amass large‑scale flight data for large electric aircraft operating in urban environments, laying a solid foundation for the future development of highly safe, low‑noise, compact, and long‑endurance urban air mobility eVTOL products.