An unmanned, oval-shaped craft from flying taxi maker EHang hovers, whirring noisily like a mini-helicopter over a riverside innovation zone on the outskirts of the southern Chinese business hub of Guangzhou, part of a trial of a mini-flying taxi that once might have been found only in sci-fi films.

In nearby Shenzhen, food-delivery drones already are part of daily life and a novelty attraction for tourists, even if such services cost more.

In the waterfront park surrounded by high-rises, Polish tourist Karolina Trzciańska and her friends ordered bubble tea and lemon tea by phone, just to give it a try.

Their drinks arrived via a drone buzzing through the drizzle about 30 minutes later.

Such businesses are growing quickly with support from the government, though the take off of the so-called “low-altitude economy” faces obstacles such as strict airspace controls and battery limitations.

Activities in airspace below 1,000 meters (about 3,280 feet) accounted for business turnover worth 506 billion yuan ($70 billion) in 2023, about 0.4% of China’s economy.

By 2035, it's expected to hit 3.5 trillion yuan (about $490 billion), said Zhang Xiaolan, a researcher at the State Information Center, a think tank affiliated with China's main planning agency.

Guangdong province, home to drone giant DJI with an estimated 70% of the global commercial drone market, leads in development of the low-altitude economy, followed by wealthy eastern coastal provinces Jiangsu and Zhejiang, near Shanghai, according to a report by a research unit of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Peking University, and other institutions.

Other big players in Guangdong include EHang, logistics company SF Express’s drone arm Phoenix Wings, and automaker XPENG’s flying car unit ARIDGE.

Its technology and financial hub Shenzhen has launched a 15-million-yuan ($2.1 million) award for companies that earn certifications required for passenger eVTOLs, short for “electric vertical take-off and landing" vehicles that lift off the ground like helicopters, among other incentives.

China’s Civil Aviation Administration has granted certificates allowing EHang to offer commercial passenger services with its pilotless eVTOL, a low-altitude aircraft that can reach speeds of 130 kilometers per hour (81 mph) with a maximum range of 30 km (19 miles).

EHang hasn’t launched commercial routes, but its vice president, He Tianxing, says it aims to start with aerial sightseeing services.

The company has been building takeoff and landing sites in 20 Chinese cities over the past two years. He expects aircraft of various companies will be flying multiple routes, possibly after five years.

“Places like supermarkets, hospitals, schools, and parks along the streets could all have takeoff and landing points. Once such a network of takeoff and landing sites is established, we will be able to have urban air mobility," He said.

"We can connect the isolated points into lines and then form a large and regular network of urban air routes within a 30 kilometer radius around a city.”

Experts and eVTOL companies said challenges for developing eVTOL aircrafts include battery capacity limitations, restrict airspace regulations and safety.

"If you think about the reliability of the drones, you can’t compare it with, currently, aviation aircrafts or commercial aircrafts. If you think about in Hong Kong or other big cities like Shenzhen in China, everyday have a thousand UAVs operating above your roof, what kind of noise or impact there could be on residents?," said Chen Wen-hua, director at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University’s Research Centre for Low Altitude Economy.

After years of commercialization, drone application are not that widespread in China.

It’s unclear how quickly such aircraft might beginning carrying paid passengers regularly.

“The future for the LAE (low-altitude economy) will be there and is bright. However, the road leading to it that bright future might be treacherous,” Chen said.

AP video shot by: Olivia Zhang and Alice Fung