The Influence of Personality Traits on Users’ Preference for eVTOL Control Parameters

The electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) is believed to be the future of transportation. Startup companies have proposed eVTOLs with simplified control systems. A typical example is the single-joystick control system, which controls the longitudinal, lateral and yaw movement of the eVTOL by a single joystick. However, little is known about what control parameters can meet the users’ needs of eVTOL dynamics. Thus, a flight simulator experiment with 46 participants was conducted on a six-degree-of-freedom (6-DOF) eVTOL flight simulator. We investigated how users’ personality traits can affect their preferred eVTOL control parameters, which were identified by an adaptive staircase procedure. Then, hierarchical clustering based on the preferred control parameters revealed two distinct user groups. Further, higher conscientiousness, emotional stability, and extraversion were associated with a higher preference for more sensitive control parameters. These findings highlight the importance of considering individual heterogeneity when designing the eVTOL control systems.