Leveraging System Definition for Human Factors Integration in the UAM Ecosystem; Cockpit Display for Autonomous Flight

As UAM moves toward autonomy, human operators will remain essential—especially ininterpreting complex variables or managing system limitations. Cockpit displays act as a bridgebetween the pilot and multiple UAM ecosystem components, including navigation, traffic,weather, and diagnostics systems. This paper argues that defining each component’s inputs,outputs, services, and requests is a prerequisite for effective human-machine interface (HMI)design, particularly as information is often pre-processed before reaching the pilot. The initialgeneration of UAM systems is likely to adopt manual flight controls due to regulatoryconservatism, certification readiness, and the need for public trust. However, as full autonomybecomes viable, cockpit interfaces must evolve to support remote supervision and control. In thisphase, display logic diverges depending on whether it is integrated in an onboard cockpit or in aremote pilot station, with differences in interaction latency, sensor access, and situational context.To support this evolution, the paper presents a system-level mapping of UAM data sources andexchange pathways, identifying key bilateral interactions between ecosystem entities. Thisfoundation enables scalable visualization of cockpit-relevant information and human-centeredautomation transitions.