Factors affecting the adoption and use of urban air mobility

Abstract

Technological advances have recently led to the development of urban air mobility (UAM), an alternative transportation mode with several concepts including vehicles operated by on-demand fully-automated vertical take-o↵ and landing aircraft (VTOL) for intra-city passenger transportation. However, despite a growing interest in UAM, understanding users' perceptions to it remains limited. This research aims to identify and quantify the factors a↵ecting the adoption and use of UAM, based on relevant tools from the literature, such as recurring factors in studies on aerial vehicle concepts, ground autonomous vehicles, but also acceptance models, such as the Technology Acceptance Model by Davis et al. (1989). A stated-preference survey was developed to assess the perception of users in terms of adoption time horizon, including options such as the first six years of the service's implementation, "unsure", and "never". The obtained results were evaluated using exploratory factor analyses, and the specification and estimation of suitable discrete choice models, multinomial logit models (MNLs) and ordered logit models (OLMs), with adoption time horizon as dependent variable. Findings revealed the importance of safety and trust, a nity to automation, data concerns, social attitude, and socio-demographics for adoption. Factors, such as the value of time savings, the perception of automation costs, and service reliability, were also found to be highly influential. There was also an indication that skeptical respondents, i.e. answering "unsure", had a behavior similar to late and non-adopters, i.e. adoption time horizon higher than six years or answering "never". The summarized results were represented in an extended Technology Acceptance Model for urban air mobility, and provided insights for policymakers and industrial stakeholders.

Business model options for passenger urban air mobility

“…User adoption : With regard to user acceptance, Al Haddad et al [ 34 ] have conducted an empirical study on which factors the willingness to use UAM depends on. In respect to existing research they confirmed the influence of the user sense of security towards UAM and the perceived trustworthiness of the service provider.…”

“…Further decision factors are the expected reduction of the individuals travel time, the estimated reliability of the offered service and the user perception of automation costs. Also shown to be relevant were the potential user attitude towards automation, data security as well as demographic characteristics of the respondents [ 34 ]. Studies further stress on the importance of the availability (e.g., in the form of on-demand services), the costs and the accessibility of the service (e.g., the distribution and accessibility of vertiports).…”

Long-term application potential of urban air mobility complementing public transport: an upper Bavaria example

“…The goal is to support mobility users sustainably through intelligent route planning, booking, travel and flight as well as payment processes. Social acceptance is a key success factor for the comprehensive use of UAM [20]. This is primarily achieved through seamless and safe processes.…”

K-Prototypes Segmentation Analysis on Large-Scale Ridesourcing Trip Data

“…With this prototype showing a strong connection between the commercial core of Chicago, policies should focus on connections that will appeal to business travelers. This remains a challenging area of research, as new options, including vertical urban air mobility, are being tested in initiatives such as UberElevate with electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles ( 41 , 42 ). This highlights the need to craft regulations and partnership arrangements such as security checkpoints and luggage drop-offs ( 43 ).…”