On December 10, the Dapeng New Area UAV Test Base was officially put into operation. In recent years, the Shenzhen Municipal Transportation Bureau has fully promoted the construction of major scientific installations, pilot zones and test sites under the “1+5+4” layout for Shenzhen’s low-altitude economy. As an important part of Shenzhen’s “1+5+4” low-altitude innovation infrastructure system, the base focuses on key links such as technological R&D, airworthiness verification, industrial agglomeration and scenario innovation. It provides “full-scenario” test environments for medium and large-sized UAVs, electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft and future aircraft, further explores low-altitude airspace management, formulates test technical standards, expands the output of low-altitude application scenarios, and helps Shenzhen build itself into the “world’s first city for low-altitude economy”.
At the commissioning ceremony, 12 enterprises including AeroHT, FAW Qiyi, Autel Robotics, Aviation Industry Corporation of China, United Aircraft and Zero Gravity settled in the base as the first batch of low-altitude scenario partners to carry out testing and cooperation; Shenzhen Urban Transport Planning & Design Institute Co., Ltd. and the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) Institute for Marine Sciences and Engineering jointly unveiled the “Industry-University-Research-Application Demonstration Base” to explore offshore low-altitude technological innovation; meanwhile, strategic cooperation agreements were signed with Dapeng New Area, AeroHT, SUSTech Institute for Marine Sciences and Engineering, AVIC Engineering, Shenzhen MSU-BIT University and Flyer Times.
Located in the Baguang area of Shenzhen’s Dapeng New Area, the UAV test base covers an area of 11,000 square meters and is equipped with supporting spaces such as a comprehensive service center, hangars, an operation center, a delivery center and exhibition halls. It boasts favorable low-altitude airspace conditions, with a 20.2-square-kilometer low-altitude airspace suitable for flight, and the outward-extending sea area forms a maritime flight test space of about 200 square kilometers. The base is furnished with various types of equipment including communication, monitoring, perception and meteorological devices, and has the capability of providing low-altitude digital basic services.
The base will build China’s first eVTOL “aerial Nürburgring track”, providing enterprises with an important full-scenario test space, while focusing on meeting the test needs of key scenarios such as high-rise fire fighting, forest fire prevention and marine maritime affairs. In the future, it will be driven by the dual wheels of “full-scenario testing + commercialization implementation”, focusing on providing all-round testing services for enterprises; building an industrial agglomeration platform to accelerate the transformation of scientific and technological achievements into practical applications; advancing scenario demonstrations, launching pilot projects of real scenarios such as island logistics, low-altitude tours and emergency rescue, and exploring cross-border low-altitude flight testing and services.
Relying on the unique natural environment of mountains, seas, lakes, islands and cities in the Greater Bay Area, the base is committed to building itself into a comprehensive UAV test concentration area in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, an experience zone for the sea-land-air full-space unmanned system and a highland for low-altitude economic industry innovation demonstration. It will serve as an “accelerator” for the development of the low-altitude economy and an “aerial experience space” for citizens, continuously promoting the low-altitude economy from concept to real life.
Up to now, four low-altitude test sites in Shenzhen, namely Yantian, Longgang, Pingshan and Dapeng, have all been put into operation, providing high-quality support for the construction of Shenzhen’s low-altitude operation service guarantee capability. Next, Shenzhen’s transportation department will further provide high-standard and high-quality services for enterprises in the low-altitude industrial chain, laying a solid foundation for high-quality low-altitude enterprises to settle and gather in Shenzhen.
