Facilitating Passenger Acceptance of eVTOL: Management of Expectation and Experience

For passengers accustomed to commercial fixed-wing flight, electric vertical takeoffand landing aircraft (eVTOLs) will represent a novel form of air travel. Thepassenger experience of urban air mobility (UAM) eVTOLs will encompass newsounds, vibrations, motions, and a visual field flooded with close-up views of theurban canyon. Research on passenger acceptance has largely relied on text-basedquestionnaires. However, acceptance will be influenced by how experiencecompares to expectations and the extent to which discomfort or, in the worst case,distress, is experienced. The existing passenger discomfort literature focuseslargely on the impact of noise and vibration. Compared with traditionalcommercial flight, passengers may experience greater range, intensity, andvariability of noise and vibration. Their experience may include turbulence withinurban airflows. Expectations may be influenced by sleek, futuristic designs and bythe initial executive-transportation use case. There is, therefore, a potential for amismatch between passengers’ expectations and their experience. Novel aspectsof eVTOL flight may provoke fear in passengers with no prior fear-of-flyinghistory. Potential triggers include flight operations amongst tall buildings, ahigher incidence of turbulence, unfamiliar motions, and distrust associated withnovel technology. Remote or autonomous flight, lacking the reassuring presenceof onboard human crew, may exacerbate these concerns. This paper exploresnovel aspects of eVTOLs that may cause discordance between expectation andreality, as well as discomfort and distress. By considering how these challengescould be overcome through existing knowledge, this paper aims to help facilitatepassenger acceptance of these exciting new aircraft.