Experiencing Urban Air Mobility: How Passengers evaluate a simulated flight with an Air Taxi

For the successful development and implementation of novel concepts and technology, the acceptance of potential users is crucial. Therefore, within the project HorizonUAM, 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 Air Taxi Simulator was set up. It allows participants to experience an inner-city business shuttle flight. A study with 30 participants assessed the information needs and the influence of another person on board on wellbeing in nominal situations (experiment 1) as well as one non-nominal situation (experiment 2). For the latter, participants experienced a re-routing of the flight due to an unavailability of landing sites at the vertidrome. During and after the flights, participants answered questionnaires and extensive interviews were conducted. The study produced first 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 steward on board is not necessary but can increase wellbeing especially during non-nominal situations.