Public acceptance and noise considerations in urban air mobility research - Intermediate results of DLR's HorizonUAM project

Abstract

The project "HorizonUAM - Urban Air Mobility Research at the German Aerospace Center (DLR)" pools existing competencies of eleven institutes within DLR. The project combines the research about urban air mobility (UAM) vehicles or air taxis, the corresponding infrastructure, the operation of UAM services, as well as the public acceptance of future urban air transportation. The analysis of flight guidance concepts and the sequencing of air taxis at vertidromes is a central part of the project. Selected concepts for flight guidance, communication and navigation technology are demonstrated with drones in a scaled urban scenario. The HorizonUAM project has started in 2020 and will run until mid-2023. Among the highlights of the first half of the research project are first vehicle fleet pre-designs including cabin interior design and the installation of a mixed reality UAM cabin simulator. A rating method for the design of starting and landing areas, so called vertidromes, has been established and a first capacity analysis was conducted for vertidrome integration at the airport of Hamburg, Germany. Furthermore, a virtual reality study on the acceptance of drones and air taxis flying over pedestrians in an urban setting has been completed with 47 subjects. An online survey among UAM stakeholders from unmanned aviation associations, research and industry confirmed the assumptions on the use cases defined within HorizonUAM: airport shuttle, suburban commuter, intra-city, inter-city and mega-city. This keynote gives an overview of the research covered in the HorizonUAM project with special focus on the topics of public acceptance and noise.