Issue link: https://resources.mouser.com/i/1495601
and have a pilot, the idea of entering a pilotless, battery-powered flying vehicle, and having it whisk you from one place to another can be daunting. A realistic expectation of safety must be presented to the public. Secondly, the upfront capital cost of such a vehicle, as well as ongoing operating costs, must be kept at an affordable level. Such vehicles will realistically be a high- end affair to begin with, but as UAM travel becomes more common, the economies of scale will make such transportation widely affordable. Finally, the noise of such vehicles must be addressed. Electric multi-rotor craft are much quieter than traditional helicopters, but the lower this can be kept, the better, especially if such transportation becomes widely adopted. The UAM future promises a quicker way to traverse from the airport to one's final destination and between intracity locations. What's notable here is that such autonomous vehicles won't be like the "flying cars" envisioned for many decades that allow passengers to hop on and off anywhere at a moment's notice, or even the "Johnny Cab" of Total Recall, where the autonomous driver takes you wherever you want to go. Instead, UAM vehicles will follow pre-defined routes and will need to comply with air traffic regulations. In some ways, one might consider it more akin to a high-speed "airborne subway," than the go-where- you-like open road (or open sky in this case). C h a p t e r 1 | T h e F u t u r e o f E l e c t r i c U r b a n A i r M o b i l i t y ( U A M ) V e h i c l e s Michael Seidl Systems Engineer - Aerospace, Texas Instruments All enabling technology for UAM is already here. One might even argue that autonomous cars need to operate in an environment that is far more complex than a flight from A to B on a regulated route. The strongest hurdle remaining is probably in our minds." 7 Addressing New Challenges in Urban Air Mobility