AiRMOUR’s pioneering survey collected opinions from over 1000 citizens on drones and Urban Air Mobility

The AiRMOUR survey is the first on this scale focusing on public attitudes towards the use of delivery drones and passenger eVTOLs for Emergency Medical Services. Respondents represent the six European countries involved in the AiRMOUR project.

The AiRMOUR project has undertaken the most extensive public and stakeholder engagement survey on Urban Air Mobility (UAM) and drones in Europe since EASA’s study in May 2021. Over 1100 citizens participated in the survey from the six countries involved in the AiRMOUR project: Finland, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. The questions were related to topics such as safety and risk, privacy, environment, socio-economic impact and public acceptance of different Emergency Medical Service use cases.

This survey is the first on this scale that focuses on public attitudes towards the use of delivery drones and passenger eVTOLs for Emergency Medical Services. ‘The results of the survey show that the exposure to drones is likely to increase the acceptance. The more common it is for the public to see professional drones in action, the less controversial the public perceives them’, says the Coordinator of the AiRMOUR project, Principal Scientist, Doctor Petri Mononen from VTT, Technical Research Centre of Finland.

One of the key findings of the survey was that the public accepts drone usage for urgent medical services – in deliveries of a defibrillator or Emergency Medical personnel, for example – more easily than for non-urgent medical usage, such as deliveries of pharmacy products. However, infrastructure maintenance, land or building surveying and environmental monitoring were seen as the most acceptable use cases for drones.

‘The reason for these findings could be because drones used for medical emergencies, or for maintenance, surveying or monitoring are considered less disturbing than for other uses as they are generally not very frequent, often operating in controlled or isolated environments’, says Senior Consultant Lucy Mascarenhas from the AiRMOUR partner LuxMobility, which was in charge of conducting the survey.

A higher level of knowledge increases comfort when new technologies are introduced to the public. The majority of citizens who responded to the AiRMOUR survey were either ‘not knowledgeable at all’ on the topic of Urban Air Mobility or they were ‘slightly knowledgeable’. People who were more knowledgeable and had been exposed to drones were more accepting of them and were more trusting and comfortable with the technology.

Social inequality appeared as a high concern for citizens. This differs from previous
studies where inequality has not been highlighted as a concern. To help mitigate this
concern the new drone services should benefit the whole of society, not just a select few. However, similarly to the previous studies, topics such as safety, privacy and noise are still the top concerns for citizens.

The AiRMOUR survey included interviews of fifteen experts from the fields of aviation, Urban Air Mobility, medical, government, communication and cyber-security, a technical stakeholder survey and a workshop. Experts were asked about acceptance of UAM with focused questions on the Emergency Medical use cases. They felt that regulations are currently the most limiting factor in the advancement of UAM.

‘Experts identified the need for an easier process to enable test flights for drones. However, they acknowledged the need for tighter restrictions in some areas, such as certifying all drones and ensuring all drone operators – including hobbyists – take a mandatory test to fly. They also identified the need for clarity from authorities by ensuring responsibilities and regulatory processes are clear and transparent’, says Mascarenhas.

According to Mononen, the AiRMOUR project will continue to work on public acceptance as long as the project continues, which is the end of 2023.

‘We expect to greatly increase our survey respondents in 2023 and thereby gain even deeper knowledge on the best follow-up actions for municipalities and the industry’.

See the AiRMOUR Public and stakeholder acceptance interim report (pdf)

See the visualised summary of the results (pdf)

Dr. Petri Mononen
Principal Scientist
VTT, Technical Research Centre of Finland
tel. +358 40 5155 808, petri.mononen(at)vtt.fi

Lucy Mascarenhas
Senior Consultant
LuxMobility
l.mascarenhas(at)luxmobility.eu

Have a say in the mobility development – respond by the 1st of April!

The AiRMOUR project has developed a stakeholder questionnaire to gather the opinions of stakeholders on the acceptability of Urban Air Mobility (UAM) and the opportunities and constraints to consider to facilitate UAM for Emergency Medical Services. The questionnaire is aimed at people working in Aviation, Urban Air Mobility, Technology, Healthcare, Communications or City planning.

The questionnaire is in English and should take less than 30 minutes to complete. You have the option to save and return to the survey later if needed. There are some mandatory generic questions and also some more focused questions on optional topics including privacy, safety, policy, infrastructure and socio-economics.

Your contribution will help the AiRMOUR team to formulate a meaningful report on the acceptability of UAM. The report will be published on this website next summer and will be particularly beneficial for those working in the UAM field to refer to in their ongoing research, and for government officials in their capacity as regulators and public representatives.

The questionnaire will stay open until 1st of April, so please respond before this date.

Link to questionnaire: https://survey.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bmfu17eQh7rwEia
Password: x36P90Gh!

For further information, please contact:

LuxMobility

Lucy Mascarenhas, l.mascarenhas(at) luxmobility.eu

The AiRMOUR project is collecting residents’ views on drones in six European countries. The survey will be rolled out later in Replicator Cities for a wider outreach.

The AiRMOUR project is gathering opinions from stakeholders and the public via interviews and questionnaires on the acceptance and socio-economic impacts of Urban Air Mobility and its potential to support Emergency Medical Services (EMS). LuxMobility is leading the engagement activity and, with the help of fellow AiRMOUR partners, has recently developed a questionnaire to gather opinions from citizens on delivery drones and passenger eVTOLs. It includes questions related to topics investigated as part of this project including privacy, safety & risk, noise & visual pollution and acceptance of different EMS use cases.

Citizens living near the locations of the project’s planned simulations and demonstrations have been invited to take part in this survey. The survey will engage with over 1000 participants in 6 countries (Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Germany). The aim is for the survey to be rolled out in our Replicator Cities early next year for a wider outreach.

The outputs of the questionnaire will build upon recent insightful studies into this topic, such as EASA’s ‘Study on the societal acceptance of Urban Air Mobility in Europe’ and CORUS XUAM’s Paper on ‘Implementing Mitigations for Improving Societal Acceptance of Urban Air Mobility’. The AiRMOUR report on the public and stakeholder engagement findings will be available to download from this website next summer.

Do you work in Aviation, Urban Air Mobility, Healthcare, Technology, Communications or City planning? For more details and responding to the stakeholder questionnaire by the 1st of April, follow this link

For further information, please contact:

LuxMobility

Lucy Mascarenhas, l.mascarenhas(at) luxmobility.eu