PhD from Northwestern Polytechnical University develops manned "air taxi," filling a domestic technology gap.

According to Xi'an Daily, at the recently held 2026 InclusionBund Summit, the Honghu eVTOL pre-production prototype developed by a team led by Bai Zhiliang, a post-95s doctoral student at Northwestern Polytechnical University, made its public debut. This fully tilting electric aircraft, which can carry passengers, be mass-produced, and benchmarks against the highest international standards, filled a domestic technological gap in one stroke. Huayu Xianxiang, the company led by Bai Zhiliang, became the world's second and China's first eVTOL company to achieve full-tilt transition flight.