2023/11/02 by Anne Papenfuß, Maria Stolz, Papenfuss, Anne +17
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Engineering · Psychology · #91C99 #Air Traffic Management and Optimization #Aviation Industry Analysis and Trends #FOS: Electrical engineering #FOS: Physical sciences #H.1.2 #H.5.2 #Human-Automation Interaction and Safety #I.3.8 #Physics and Society (physics.soc-ph) #Systems and Control (eess.SY) #electronic engineering #information engineering
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2311.01079
openalex publication_date 2023/11/02 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
For the successful development and implementation of novel concepts and technology, the acceptance of potential users is crucial. Therefore, within the project HorizonUAM of the German Aerospace Center (DLR), we investigated passengers' acceptance of air taxis. One challenge is that not many people have real experiences with urban air mobility (UAM) at the moment and thus requirements formulated by potential users refer to rather abstract concepts. To allow participants to gain realistic impressions of UAM concepts, a Mixed Reality (MR) Air Taxi Simulator was set up. In a study, 30 participants experienced an inner-city business shuttle flight. We assessed the influence of another person on board on wellbeing and information needs in nominal (experiment 1) and non-nominal situations (experiment 2). For the latter, participants experienced a re-routing of the flight due to landing side unavailability. During and after the flights, participants answered questionnaires and extensive interviews were conducted. The study produced empirical data on relevant factors regarding interaction, information needs and comfort within an air taxi. The findings show that passengers want to be informed about intentions of the vehicle. The presence of a flight attendant on board is not necessary but can increase wellbeing especially during non-nominal situations.