The challenge of Urban Air Mobility deployment
Image by ASSURED-UAM
The rapid technological progresses in Urban Air Mobility (UAM) have made it necessary to analyse both the opportunities and obstacles deriving from its deployment.
By fostering robust vertical transportation systems, we can better ensure that more services are safe, sustainable and acceptable, especially as traditional (land) transportation is becoming slower and lessening in efficiency.
On the other hand, technology and innovative measures in UAM are not yet sufficient to meet international climate targets and European transport policy objectives. Moreover, older legacy systems with ageing infrastructure often fail to implement new solutions, due to a lack of information, data and testing.
ASSURED-UAM is a new European project aiming to manage these challenges, by providing support to, and technical assistance for, the implementation of UAM in three cities and regions: Górnoslasko-Zaglebiowska Metropolis or GZM (Poland), Bari (Italy), and the City of Porto (Portugal).
The project’s aim for the near future is to spread and implement best practices, standards, recommendations, and organisational solutions for aviation in the city administrative and legislative structures responsible for the deployment of vertical transportation. Longer term, the project will help ensure that UAM is implemented as one component of urban and peri-urban mobility systems, by providing comprehensive organisational and policy definition support to authorities, policy-makers and urban industry actors.
The ASSURED-UAM consortium is analysing 5, 10 and 15-year scenarios for up to 10 different UAM use cases, and compiling a subsequent knowledge base and policy recommendations in eight languages. Immediate benefits from UAM deployment are foreseen for the ASSURED-UAM cities and metropolitan areas, such as aerial observation, transport of medicines and organs between medical facilities by drones, shared service centres, transport of shipments and mail, monitoring rivers, air taxis between airports and between major cities or critical points in these European cities.
A key aspect of the project is the consultation of an Extended Advisory Board (EAB) composed of more than 50 experts, working to support ASSURED-UAM in better understanding the needs, perspectives, and priorities of its up to 10 most promising use cases, in order to build a clear framework encompassing technical, environmental, regulatory, social, urban planning and financial issues for their future implementation.
For more information, visit: www.assured-uam.eu
Author: Raffaella Russo
