User Acceptance of Urban Air Mobility (UAM) for Passenger Transport: A Choice-Based Conjoint Study.

Urban air mobility (UAM) has gained increased attention as a promising new solution to tackle issues such as traffic congestion. This study aims to assess users’ perception and usage intentions and identify and weigh success-critical acceptance factors against each other. Further, user-related differences in the underlying decision patterns are analyzed. A mixed-methods approach was employed, including a prior interview study with laypeople and experts ( N = 16), calculations of feasible prices via agent-based símulations, and the main survey study ( N = 135) – a Choice-Based Conjoint (CBC) with the attributes: environmental impact, costs, placement of take-off and landing stations (vertiports), automation level, and onboard benefits. Results indicated that environmental impact, costs, and vertiport placement were the top three factors influencing user acceptance. The relative importance of these attributes differed, however, depending on the user group. Based on the results, three user segments were identified: automation-skeptical users, environmentally-conscious users, and cost-conscious users. The findings provide valuable insights for UAM providers and policymakers to understand the attitudes and needs of potential users and to design effective strategies for promoting the adoption of UAM.