With mainland China taking deliberate measures to expand civilian drone activities into a fully-fledged low altitude economic sector, Hong Kong seems to have joined the bandwagon, recently announcing drone partners for its next round of low altitude economy explorations.
As explained by the Honk Transport and Logistics Bureau, the project custodian, the "Low-Altitude Economy ("LAE") Regulatory Sandbox X" project aims to enable industry stakeholders to test and conduct trials on some project concepts within pre-defined air routes and in a controlled and safe manner.
The objectives are to
a. support the Government in developing policies and regulatory guidelines that better embrace the latest technologies as well as the needs of the industry while ensuring public and aviation safety;
b. test and conduct trials relevant to airspace management, flight operations, infrastructure/facilities (including storage/carriage and ground supporting facilities), and emergency response required to support the safe and efficient operations of unmanned aircraft;
c. adopt a risk-based approach to conduct tests and trials at various locations to collect data against various parameters such that safe and reliable flights can be ensured within the parameters, including:
· environmental factors (such as temperature, visibility, rain/humidity, wind speed, etc.);
· date of the week/time of the day;
· unmanned aircraft’s weight and payload;
· flying altitude and speed;
· strength and stability of the signals for Global Navigation Satellite System with consideration on ionospheric disturbance, and communication/surveillance network in the unique environment of Hong Kong with surrounding terrain and high-rise buildings, including remote, sparsely populated, over-water and cross-boundary areas, etc.;
· response to various emergency situations with multiple layers of risk mitigating measures; and
· simultaneous operations of multiple unmanned aircraft with the support of an advanced SUA controlling and surveillance system with proven safety records;
d. enable the Government to collect data to validate that the applications are viable and can meet the relevant safety, stability, reliability and resilience requirements;
e. demonstrate safe segregation from aircraft, helicopters, other airspace users, people, vehicles, vessels and building structures;
f. showcase applications of technologies relevant to low-altitude economy (“LAE”);
g. for cross-boundary applications, validate procedures and liaison between relevant authorities in the Mainland and Hong Kong (including but not limited to Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (“CIQ”)) arrangements and other relevant requirements; and
h. enable participants to gather, under a controlled environment, data and user feedback so that they can make refinements to their LAE initiatives, thereby validating the proposed applications are technically and commercially viable, expediting the launch of new LAE products or services, and reducing the development and pre-launch costs.
“In the first batch of Sandbox (launched in November last year), 38 pilot projects were selected, covering a wide range of fields and application scenarios, including emergency and rescue, logistics and distribution, inspections and safety maintenance, surveillance, and low-altitude infrastructure,” the bureau said.
“Sandbox X, as its name stands, is expected to bring about the new elements of “extra”, “extended” and “collaboration”, and raise the work on developing LAE to the next level.
While application scenarios tested in the first batch of Sandbox will not be repeated in general, the Sandbox X will focus on the following modules:
(i) Unmanned aircraft system traffic management (“UTM”) system demonstrations;
(ii) Unconventional aircraft, such as unmanned aircraft weighing more than 150 kg, eVTOLs and unconventional aircraft designed for passenger-carrying;
(iii) Cross-boundary applications (involving small unmanned aircraft or unconventional aircraft);
(iv) Multiple applications / users shared-platform (for small unmanned aircraft only); and
(v) Other applications as approved by the Working Group on Developing Low-altitude Economy (“WG”) (for small unmanned aircraft only)
And of course, advanced air mobility services provider and drone manufacturer EHang is one of the partners, banking on its lived-in experiences having provided the same low altitude economy services to several municipalities and cities in mainland China.
“As Hong Kong actively rolls out multiple rounds of regulatory sandbox trial projects, the low-altitude economy is quickly becoming a key driver for local innovation,” the company said in a statement.
“As a global leader in AAM, EHang has established a solid foundation of collaboration with its Hong Kong partners, continuously advancing the application of pilotless electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft in the region.
“As the world's first company to obtain the type certificate, production certificate, and standard airworthiness certificate for a pilotless human-carrying eVTOL in China, EHang has remained committed to advancing practical applications for the low-altitude economy.”
As of May 2026, EHang's flagship product, the EH216-S pilotless human-carrying eVTOL has completed more than 90,000 safe flights and has been operating routine commercial trial services in Guangzhou and Hefei. These efforts are generating replicable and scalable practical experience for the industry's transition to commercial operations.
“Hong Kong is a key gateway connecting with the Greater Bay Area and global markets, and an ideal testing ground for low-altitude economy innovation and development.
“EHang will deepen the collaboration with its Hong Kong partners to explore advanced air mobility applications, support Hong Kong's low-altitude economy innovation, and contribute to the development of low-altitude economy ecosystem across the Greater Bay Area.”
The other drone technology partner for this will be AutoFlight, an electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, which will provide the drone hardware and software expertise for this particular round of Honk Kong’s Sandbox X
The drone company will be responsible for two of the four approved projects will be carried, where AutoFlight’s heavy-lift eVTOL will de deployed for extensive flight test experiences and commercial readiness.
AutoFlight will work with partners including China Travel Service (Hong Kong) Automobile Services Limited and AECOM Limited on route planning, flight-parameter calibration, and end-to-end flight validation. Together, these efforts will steadily widen the scope of low-altitude commercial applications across the region.
The company’s senior vice president, Xie Jia commented that AutoFlight will use this opportunity to deepen its investment in core eVTOL technology and commercial deployment, supporting Hong Kong’s emerging low-altitude transport network.