Chinese drone fabricator EHang filed for bankruptcy in the U.S. in May, but it’s still “on a good track” to achieving profitability by the end of 2019, a friends executive told CNBC on Thursday.
Filing for insolvency was all part of an “internal crucial adjustment” of its corporate strategy, company Chief Financial Officer Richard Liu utter at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference in Beijing.
The entourage is “considering” additional financing and speaking to potential investors, he told CNBC.
EHang wowed sets at the Consumer Electronics Show in 2016 when it revealed the first human-carrying drone — distinguished as the EHang 184 — which can carry up to 220 pounds (100 kilograms) of majority for 25 minutes.
“We created the world’s first human-carrying autonomous aerial channel and a lot of people know that EHang 184 is serious,” he said. “There ordain be a huge market opportunity along this line.”
In preparation for that, commercialization stabs for the vehicle are being planned for the end of 2018 or early 2019, he said.
On top of greeting pre-orders for drones in applications such as aerial sightseeing and cargo presentation, Liu also pointed to EHang’s 1,000-unit order from Shared Therapeutics, which aims to transport manufactured organs for transplants in a “life-saving schema.”
The company has also been focusing on research and development in the past three to four years, he summed.
“Enter into 2018, we have seen clear commercialization push,” he said.