Cited by 488Air Traffic Management and OptimizationTransportation and Mobility InnovationsAdvanced Aircraft Design and Technologies

Urban air mobility: A comprehensive review and comparative analysis with autonomous and electric ground transportation for informing future research

Open access
Garrow, Laurie A., German, Brian J., Leonard, Caroline E.·2021·Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies

Abstract

Urban air mobility (UAM), if successful, will disrupt urban transportation. UAM is not the first disruptive technology in transportation, with recent examples including electric ground vehicles (EVs), autonomous ground vehicles (AVs), and sharing services. In this paper, we conduct a meta-analysis of about 800 articles in the UAM, EV, and AV areas that have been published from January 2015 to June 2020, and compare and contrast research thrusts in order to inform future UAM research. Alongside this effort, we conduct an in-depth review of articles related to demand modeling, operations, and integration with existing infrastructure. We use insights from the meta-analysis and comprehensive review to inform future UAM research directions. Some of the potential research directions we identify include: (1) developing more refined demand models that incorporate the timing of when individuals will adopt UAM; (2) developing high-fidelity simulation models for UAM operations that capture interactions among vertiport locations, vertiport topology, demand, pricing, dispatching, and airspace restrictions; (3) explicitly considering one-way demand and parking constraints in demand and operational models; and (4) developing more realistic time-of-day energy profiles for UAM vehicles in order to assess whether the current electrical grid can support UAM operations.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.trc.2021.103377

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225 of 225 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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  • The value of trip time for AVs will potentially decrease significantly, as individuals will be more productive in AVs.

    “Furthermore, the value of trip time for AVs will potentially decrease significantly, as individuals will be more productive in AVs [55].”

    From Assessing the Role of Autonomous Vehicles in Urban Areas: A Systematic Review of Literature (2024) · cites this paper as [55]

    Section 7 (Conclusions) says AV travel-time values may decrease significantly because passengers can be more productive, but specifies commute trips. Section 4.2.4 (Value of time) reports no significant reduction for leisure or shopping trips in one study, so the claim is too broad when applied to AV trips generally. (LLM, conf=0.86)

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  • Due to the lack of legislation, autonomous vehicle deployment and operation require some form of regulation.

    “Due to the lack of legislation, autonomous vehicle deployment and operation require some form of regulation [55,64,65].”

    From Assessing the Role of Autonomous Vehicles in Urban Areas: A Systematic Review of Literature (2024) · cites this paper as [55]

    Section 3.2 describes aviation as highly regulated, while §5.2.1 discusses existing transportation-planning legislation and regulations relevant to integrating urban air mobility. Neither passage addresses a lack of legislation for autonomous ground vehicles or says their deployment and operation require regulation; searches for those terms found no such statement. Page numbers were not available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.74)

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Cites

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Research works printed but not linked: 7

  1. Dietrich, A., Wulff, Y., 2020. Urban air mobility: Adding the third dimension to urban and regional transportation. Presentation for: An Introduction to Urban Air Mobility for State and Local Decision Makers: A Virtual Workshop, sponsored by the Community Air Mobility Initiative (CAMI). Available online at https://www. communityairmobility.org/uam101.
  2. Fredericks, W.J., 2016. Impact of operational requirements on intra-urban VTOL conceptual design. Presented at: The 16th AIAA Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations Conference, Washington, DC, June 13-17..
  3. Porsche Consulting, 2018. The Future of Vertical Mobility. A Porsche Consulting Study, March. Available online at: https://www.porsche-consulting.com/us-en/ press/insights/detail/study-the-future-of-vertical-mobility-1/. Accessed September 2, 2020.
  4. Sherman, J., 2020. eVTOLS -What are they? Presentation for: An Introduction to Urban Air Mobility for State and Local Decision Makers: A virtual workshop sponsored by the Community Air Mobility Initiative (CAMI). Available online at https://www.communityairmobility.org/uam101.
  5. Song, F., Hess, S., Dekker, T., 2019. Fancy sharing an air taxi? Uncovering the impact of variety seeking on the demand for new shared mobility services. Working paper, Institute for Transport Studies, University of Leeds. Available online at https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/73a1/ fd6f648e9ea3b1223d757b15ae2713d18adb.pdf?_ga=2.227001565.1548836095.1592830089-1396384243.1592830089.
  6. Volocopter, 2018. Pioneering the Urban Air Taxi Revolution. Volocopter white paper. Available at https://press.volocopter.com/images/pdf/Volocopter-WhitePaper- 1-0.pdf. Accessed September 2, 2020.
  7. Wisk Aero, 2021. Wisk Press Kit. Available at https://wisk.aero/press-kit/request-access/. Accessed August 25, 2021.

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Authors
Garrow, L. A., German, B. J., & Leonard, C. E.
Affiliations
Georgia Institute of Technology (US)
Corresponding author
Garrow, Laurie A.
Venue
Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2021-11
Volume
132
Pages
103377
ISSN
0968-090X (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W3203424619
Cited by
488
References
225
Citations by year
2026: 153 · 2025: 118 · 2024: 95 · 2023: 81 · 2022: 38 · 2021: 3
FWCI
28.01
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
Transportation Research Part C Emerging Technologies (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
Funders
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Aerospace Engineering › Air Traffic Management and Optimization
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Automotive Engineering › Transportation and Mobility Innovations
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Advanced Aircraft Design and Technologies
Keywords
urban air mobility, electric vehicles, autonomous vehicles, demand modeling, vertiports, energy profile, airspace restrictions, computer simulation

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