Xi’an, a former capital of dynastic China, in the country’s Shaanxi province, is perhaps most commonly associated with tradition and history. Yet last month, the home of the Terracotta Warriors demonstrated to the world that, while its foundations may be ancient, its gaze is firmly on the future. The city hosted a mass drone performance that broke all previous records, with a fleet of 1,374 drones simultaneously airborne.
The performance, which lasted for 13 minutes and covered a kilometer of airspace, surpassed the previous world record, achieved by Intel at the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Guinness World Record regulations stipulate that each drone must be of the quadcopter variety and must remain in flight for at least one minute.
The company behind the Xi’an show was Ehang Egret, showcasing its Drone Formation Flight software. Despite the record-breaking test show just days before, CEO Shi Zheyuan voiced concerns that the crowd’s cellphone signals might interfere with the drones. As they spread out to form a variety of 3D images, celebrating the city’s history, and wowing more than 100,000 onlookers, a number of quadcopters broke loose from the formation, and even crashed to the ground.
While the focus largely remained on the show’s successes, video footage of the event aired by Beijing News shows a number of Ehang Egret’s drones falling out of the sky during the final phase of the performance, and this will no doubt be a pressing concern for Mr. Shi. Notwithstanding, he has firmly placed his company at the forefront of UAV performance, with the Xi’an display adding to their list of extravagant shows. Back in February, Ehang Egret pulled off a similar display of 1,000 drones over downtown Guangzhou, and the company has also announced that it is developing a drone which can be used as an aerial taxi.