The AURORA project involves key stakeholders in its activities to better understand the impact and related challenges of UAM’s introduction at urban, suburban and peri-urban levels. In this way, AURORA can contribute to the definition of a future UAM operational environment and the associated risks of UAM operations.
As part of our stakeholder engagement activities, and in order to explore further the results of our stakeholder workshop, we conducted a first round of interviews between December 2021 and February 2022. We interviewed eight experts, with whom we explored key UAM questions on integration, societal challenges, environmental impact, and safety and security.
Based on these interviews, we learned that UAM’s success will largely depend on its integration in cities; in the airspace, on the ground, and within society and legislation. Some additional key findings among the topics discussed include:
- Integration- For UAM to have a long-lasting impact, it must be carefully integrated with all aspects of a city, so that it is both beneficial and sustainable in the long run.
- Societal Challenges– A general hurdle towards societal acceptance is the lack of awareness about UAM, its use-cases and its benefits.
- Environmental Impact– The environmental impacts of UAM are still unclear and must be further investigated.
- Safety & Security– A clear division of competences must be defined among European, national and local authorities. However, lack of UAM knowledge is seen as a barrier for accomplishing this.
All in all, because UAM is an emerging mobility service, more awareness is needed to ensure that multiple disciplines are engaged in the discussion, and that its benefits and use-cases are clear to both cities and citizens.
In the third year of the project (2023), we will organise follow-up stakeholder interviews as well as a stakeholder workshop to wrap up these activities.
