Urban Air Mobility-Insights into the Virtual and User Centric Design Process for a Future eVTOL Cabin Concept

Abstract

Urban Air Mobility (UAM) is currently one of the fastest growing fields in future mobility research. Despite the huge potential, however, processes such as designing future eVTOL cabins are complex and create various challenges for researchers and designers all over the world. Within the project Horizon UAM at the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the user-centered design of future cabins constitutes an important aspect to consider the potential acceptance of newly developed eVTOL concepts from the very beginning. This presentation describes the user-centered design approach and a 3D cabin concept of a cabin design focusing the use cases “Airportshuttle” and “Intracity”. Within the framework of the Design Thinking method, the user research and the identification of central requirements play an essential role. In the course of this, the central results from a focus group study and an online survey in the area of acceptance and cabin design will be presented. The definition of the layout based on ergonomic and anthropometric parameters will be explained in a further step. The determination of a layout and the definition of the usable installation space are important factors for the following ideation and design phase. In the final part, different design concept pieces and ideas are summarized and will be presented as a combined 3D cabin design concept. This research and the presented concept provide important insights into the cabin design process for innovative transportation vehicles. On the one hand, the early involvement of different user groups in the design process enables an increased understanding of the main user requirements and needs. This provides a broader perspective for designers and potentially raises the acceptance towards Urban Air Mobility for future passengers. On the other hand, the cabin design is an essential puzzle piece for the development of a complete air taxi system as well as the extended investigation of central passenger acceptance parameters in the course of the Horizon UAM project.