Trends in the Chinese Aviation Industry You Fly This Giant Drone While Standing

Coolfly, a company based in Hangzhou, China, has developed a drone that people can fly—while standing. You could also call it a tiny eVTOL, or electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle, but without any significant crumple zone.

As is so often the case when something new is invented, the name is up for debate. Coolfly calls its product “Urban” and describes it as a “flying device that is controlled while standing,” according to the Chinese technology portal Kuai Keji. “Urban has almost completely broken away from the appearance of conventional flying machines,” the portal writes. It has neither wings nor an enclosed cockpit. The rotors protrude from the sides of a flat carbon-fiber fuselage.