The future of electric passenger drones: A roadmap towards the Community Integration of Urban Air Mobility

Abstract

Worldwide, more and more actors have started to speak out their belief in a future with three-dimensional mobility as one of the solutions for congesting and polluted cities. Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing vehicles – more popularly referred to as drones – are supposed to relieve the current infrastructure network, mainly roads, and quickly transport cargo and people through the sky to their desired location. This new mode of transportation is also called Urban Air Mobility (UAM). To make UAM a reality, three main components are required: the aircraft and aircrew, the management of the airspace and the integration in the community. Over the last years, the industry has made major steps in the first two aspects. However, the community integration of UAM – which is about infrastructure, social acceptance and regulations, among others – has fallen behind, as cities are barely preparing themselves for this new transportation mode. Still, UAM may become a reality much earlier than those cities may expect. When that happens, cities will have to be prepared for this. It is therefore important to explore what it means and takes when UAM is integrated into a community. It is the latter which forms the fundament for this research. Where the literature extensively discusses the aircraft and airspace integration, a knowledge gap can be identified on the community integration of UAM. For this reason, the main goal for the research was to analyze the required changes in the urban mobility regime, which challenges this will cause and what actions communities can take in preparation for UAM. To contribute to the understanding of the subject and analyze the practical elaboration of UAM Community Integration, the research tried to answer the question how the transition of Urban Air Mobility can be realised in communities, which formed the main research question. To answer the research question, a qualitative approach was chosen, recommended to be used when the investigated phenomenon is new and when the investigator seeks to answer “why” and “how” questions. A combination of different qualitative data gathering methods was adopted: literature reviews and semi-structured interviews. This thesis shows that there is a lot involved in the transition from two-dimensional to three-dimensional urban transport, or Urban Air Mobility. The transition is driven by large-scale developments such as urbanization, mobility growth and climate change, putting pressure on the mobility regime. Besides, there are technological innovations in development, such as battery and communication technologies and automation, which the development of UAM as a new mode of transportation will depend on. In addition, there are internal frictions in the existing mobility system, such as congestion, which require new, sustainable mobility solutions. The comparison between the existing and future mobility regime – the latter including UAM – makes clear that the community integration of UAM requires changes in every single dimension in the mobility regime. This is accompanied by various challenges and requires actions from cities. Major challenges are mainly found within the dimensions of sectoral policy, infrastructure and culture or symbolic meaning. The most important actions that cities can take therefore also address these challenges. For example, there are currently a patchwork of rules that restrict or prohibit the use of drones and thus make UAM virtually impossible. This requires standardization of rules, which above all allow the use of drones, while respecting the social impact that drones can have. Furthermore, there is usually a lack of existing infrastructure, which means that new infrastructure must be developed. However, the limited space, suitability of existing buildings, financial feasibility and social value of UAM are some important factors that make infrastructure development within urban centers a challenging task. Cities will have to identify suitable locations for vertiports, taking these types of factors into account. Existing energy capacity can also be an obstacle. Whereas typical passenger vehicle DC fast charging typically ranges from 50kW-350kW, UAM requires charging capacities of up to 600 kW. To provide this, cities may have to make adjustments to their existing energy network. Finally, UAM will likely have a significant social impact in terms of noise, horizon pollution, privacy, safety and price,. The risk of social resistance is therefore high. It is important that cities anticipate this by, among other things, informing and educating the community about UAM, carrying out pilot projects and drawing up social guidelines. Other actions that cities can take to prepare for UAM include the exploration of potential user practices and the definition and division of stakeholder roles, among others. To conclude, the realization of UAM in communities is only in its infancy and involves an extensive process of (interdependent) developments and actions. Once the variety of niche-innovations have developed into a more mature state – which can still take several years –, UAM will be able to start its breakthrough into the urban mobility regime. This transition requires changes in all regime dimensions. The integration in the community will have impact in different ways, of which it is assumed that the spatial, energy and social domains will be impacted most. Challenges rise, mainly with regard to the sectoral policy, infrastructure and culture or symbolic meaning within the mobility regime. In order to realise the transition of UAM in communities, these must be addressed. This thesis proposed some of the more important actions that communities can take for the community integration of UAM. These are outlined in the final roadmap, which should give the final answer on how the transition of UAM can be realized in communities. The research recommends cities to take up the identified actions for UAM community integration. They provide an insight into what needs to be done to enable the community integration of UAM. This research has taken a first, exploratory step in the right direction, but the identified actions - logically - have no outcome yet. Further research into these actions is therefore required. Cities are therefore recommended to continue with this, so that they can find an answer to the implicit research questions that lie hidden in these actions.