Abstract
As the world’s population increases, new ways of improving transportation systems in, around and between urban areas are being suggested. Early discussions on this have been technology-focused, pointing at the use of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) for cargo delivery and electrical Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft for passenger transportation. Recently, the term ‘Urban Air Mobility’ has become widely used to encompass these vehicles within a new mobility ecosystem. However, due to deficiencies in this term, other proposals – namely ‘Advanced Air Mobility’, ‘New Air Mobility and ‘Innovative Air Mobility’ – have emerged. The rise in different terms can lead to confusion as their scope is not always fully known or appreciated, and they are often used interchangeably. This paper, therefore, shifts focus from the recent debate about the definition of ‘UAS’ to the aforementioned ecosystem terms so to address and evaluate them as potentially different aspects of the same concept. An interpretive approach of the terms, an assessment of their major characteristics, as well as an analysis of their relationship with the aircraft types will take place. This will show the scope of these terms so that the context can be properly understood and then appropriately applied.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
Code or Data Availability (Software Application or Custom Code)
Not applicable.
References
Schnitker, R., van het Kaar, D.: Drone Law and Policy: Integration into the Legal Order of Civil Aviation. Eleven Publishing (2021)
Scott, B.I. (ed) The Law of Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Second Edition. Wolters Kluwer (2022)
Scott, B.I., Trimarchi, A.; Fundamentals of International Aviation Law and Policy. Routledge (2020)
Bauranov, A., Rakas, J.: Designing Airspace for Urban Air Mobility: A Review of Concepts and Approaches. Prog. Aerosp. Sci. 3, 125 (2021)
Scott, B.I.: Open Skies for Unmanned Aircraft in Europe: An Outlier or a New Approach? Air & Space Law 46(1), 57–80 (2021)
Scott, B.I.: Roadable Aircraft: An Analysis of the Current Legal Environment. Air & Space Law 40(3), 255–269 (2015)
Scott, B.I., Sousa Uva, R.: ‘Soft Law’ and its Role in European Aviation Safety. Zeitschrift für Luft- und Weltraumrecht 69(4), 604–627 (2020)
EASA: European Plan for Aviation Safety (EPAS) 2022–2026. (2022). https://www.easa.europa.eu/document-library/general-publications/european-plan-aviation-safety-2022-2026. Accessed 14 Feb 2022
EASA, ‘The European Plan for Safety (EPAS 2022–2026)’. Vol. I, https://www.easa.europa.eu/downloads/134918/en. Accessed 14 Feb 2022
EASA, ‘The European Plan for Safety (EPAS 2022–2026)’. Vol. II, https://www.easa.europa.eu/downloads/123563/en. Accessed 14 Feb 2022
EASA: Study on the Societal Acceptance of Urban Air Mobility in Europe. 19 May (2021)
Regulation (EU) 2018/1139 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 July 2018 on Common Rules in the Field of Civil Aviation and Establishing a European Union Aviation Safety Agency, and Amending Regulations (EC) No 2111/2005, (EC) No 1008/2008, (EU) No 996/2010, (EU) No 376/2014 and Directives 2014/30/EU and 2014/53/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council, and repealing Regulations (EC) No 552/2004 and (EC) No 216/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council Regulation (EEC) No 3922/91, OJ L 212, 22.8.2018, p. 1–122
SESAR Joint Undertaking: Smart ATM U-SPACE. https://www.sesarju.eu/U-space. Access 14 Feb 2022
Airbus Group, FORUM Magazine No. 88 (2016)
Airbus: Urban Air Mobility. https://www.airbus.com/en/innovation/zero-emission/urban-air-mobility. Accessed 14 Feb 2022
ENAC: Piano Strategico Nazionale AAM (2021–2030) per lo sviluppo della Mobilità Aerea Avanzata in Italia (2022)
Honeywell: What is Urban Air Mobility. http://www.honeywell.com/en-us/newsroom/news/2019/01/what-is-urban-air-mobility. Accessed 14 Feb 2022
NASA: Urban Air Mobility Airspace Integration Concepts and Considerations. Conference Paper, 24 June (2018)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration: Advanced Air Mobility Project, (2021). https://www.nasa.gov/aeroresearch/programs/iasp/aam/description/. Accessed 14 Feb 2022
United States National Academics of Science, Engineering and Medicine: Advancing Aerial Mobility: A National Blueprint. (2020)
Volocopter: ‘The Roadmap to Scalable Urban Air Mobility’. Edition 2.0, (2021)
Online Latin Dictionary: Urbs. https://www.online-latin-dictionary.com/latin-english-dictionary.php?parola=urbs. Accessed 14 Feb 2022
Oxford Dictionaries: Air. https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/air_1. Accessed 14 Feb 2022
Aviation Tourism: Partnership Between SEA Milan Airports and Skyports for the Development of Vertiports in Italy. https://www.aviontourism.com/it/informazioni-utili/info-utili/nuove-tecnologie/partnership-tra-sea-milan-airports-e-skyports-42266. Access 14 Feb 2022
Jordan McKay: ‘What’s the Difference and Why Does It Matter?’ 13 November 2019, https://www.forumforthefuture.org/blog/transport-or-mobility. Accessed 14 Feb 2022
Malaud, F.: Urban Air Mobility: Is This a Different Way of Saying ‘Aviation in Cities’?. http://www.unitingaviation.com. Accessed 14 Feb 2022
Reuters: German Firm’s Air Taxi Aims to be Operational for Paris 2024 Olympics. https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/german-firms-air-taxi-aims-be-operational-paris-2024-olympics-2021-06-21/. Access 14 February 2022
UAM Explained: Creating a Common Language on Urban Air Mobility (UAM), 31 January 2022, https://www.safir-med.eu/uam-explained. Accessed 13 Feb 2022
Funding
The authors declare that no funds, grants, or other support were received during the preparation of this manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
In relation with your submission: (This is "Applicable"—Who made your manuscript and did the research?). Kindly provide complete list of all authors (names or initials) and each contribution in your "Authors' contributions" section.
The following authors contributed equally to all aspects of the study:
1. Konstantinos Andritsos LL.M. (Adv.) is an Aviation Law Research Assistant at University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany. Email: konstantinos.andritsos@protonmail.com.
2. Benjamyn Scott Ph.D., LL.M. (Adv.) is Assistant Professor at Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands. Email: b.i.scott@law.leidenuniv.nl.
3. Andrea Trimarchi, Ph.D., LL.M. (Adv.) is an Aviation Legal Consultant and Lecturer, Rome, Italy. Email: a.trimarchi89@gmail.com.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethics Approval (Include Appropriate Approvals or Waivers)
Not applicable – No animals, including humans, were studied in any way during the writing of this paper.
Consent to Participate (Include Appropriate Statements)
This study did not involve any 3rd party participation. All authors consent to participation.
Consent for Publication (Include Appropriate Statements)
This study did not involve any 3rd party participation. All authors consent to publication.
Conflicts of Interest/Competing Interests (Include Appropriate Disclosures)
The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
About this article
Cite this article
Andritsos, K., Scott, B.I. & Trimarchi, A. What is in a Name: Defining Key Terms in Urban Air Mobility. J Intell Robot Syst 105, 81 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-022-01694-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-022-01694-1