Chap 8 : Urban Air Mobility

Question 1

What are the potential use cases for Urban Air Mobility (UAM) ?

Answer 1

Passenger transport
Medical emergency
Services (logistics/surveillance)
Military
Emergency/surveillance

Question 2

What are the potential benefits of the UAM system ?

Answer 2

Relieving urban traffic of mega cities
Green & fast urban mobility

Question 3

What are the potential obstacles ?

Answer 3

-Lot of infrastructures required
-Fuel consumption/PAX bigger than tram, buses and SUV
-Public acceptable (about noise, safety & visual pollution)
-Still lot of unknowns : for bad weather ? Acceptance ?
-Good only for long distances
-Still need to identify validation business models

Question 4

What are the design parameters to consider ?

Answer 4

Noise, range, seat capacity, size, operating & maintenance costs

Question 5

What are the 2 main designs ?

Answer 5

Fully electric concepts : multicopter & Lift+Cruise

Question 6

What’s the main drawback of electric concepts ?

Answer 6

Low endurance
=> Consideration of hybrid concepts

Question 7

What are the general demand drivers ?
What’s the need from those caracteristics ?

Answer 7

Travel time & cost
Access & waiting time
=> Need an enough number of vertiports & airtaxis

Question 8

What are the main 3 potential business models ?

Answer 8

Mass operations : cheap & time-efficient
Business & Leisure : high connectivity & door-to-door ticket
Luxus mobility : speed, luxury & confort

Question 9

What are the 6 key messages of the UAM ?

Answer 9

-Valuable only for long-range trips
-High operating costs
-UAM doesn’t solve the congestion prb in cities
-Few people/vehicule («10)
-UAM system needs significant ground-infrastructures and depends of other transportations
-UAM isn’t sustainable