Urban air mobility

Urban air mobility (UAM) refers to the use of small, highly automated aircraft for the transportation of passengers or cargo at low altitudes within urban and suburban areas. This development has emerged as a response to increasing traffic congestion. The term generally refers to existing and emerging technologies such as traditional helicopters, vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft (VTOL), electrically propelled vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft (eVTOL), and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). These aircraft are characterized by the use of multiple electric-powered rotors or fans for lift and propulsion, along with fly-by-wire systems to control them. The concept of urban air mobility has been explored by inventors since the early days of powered flight. However, advances in materials, computerized flight controls, batteries, and electric motors improved innovation and designs beginning in the late 2010s. Most UAM proponents envision that the aircraft will be owned and operated by professional operators, as is currently the case with taxi services, rather than by private individuals.

Urban air mobility is a subset of the broader advanced air mobility (AAM) concept that includes other use cases than intra-city passenger transport; According to NASA, AAM includes a variety of technologies, such as small drones, electric aircraft, and automated air traffic management, that perform a wide variety of missions, including cargo and logistics operations. This definition is also supported by the drone market consulting firm Drone Industry Insights, who also includes vertiports into its definition of AAM and UAM.