Public perception of air taxis in Germany: anticipated risks, benefits, and noise sensitivity

Abstract

In a telephone survey on the acceptance of civilian drones in Germany conducted at the end of 2022, a certain portion of the questions was dedicated to air taxis explicitly. In the nationwide representative study, attitudes concerning air taxis were relatively balanced, with a slight negative tendency. Based on prior findings on the relevance of noise concerns for drone acceptance, the current study gathered information related to noise, revealing that subjective noise sensitivity is associated with the acceptance of civilian drones and air taxis. By evaluating information from answers to free-format questions about air taxis, this study provides insight into contributing factors for the attitude towards air taxis and reveals what role noise considerations might play