New Transport Technology - Same Old Problems?

In this article, Jochen Schaal and Michel Rosmolen assess the impact of urban air mobility on noise propagation.

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Our transport systems are rapidly changing, with urban air mobility expected to become a reality within the next 3–5 years. Drones are already in use; and industry-wide reforms and manufacturer incentives through the Government’s Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for drones and drone components aim to make India a drone hub by 2030.1

Currently, drones assist a number of sectors in India. They are, for instance, increasingly common in the farming and agriculture sector, where they are used to monitor the health of crops and spray them with fertilizer. They are also used for monitoring traffic and can aid city planning and infrastructure projects by capturing images and videos.

Another benefit is the ability to access remote places and carry items including consumer goods, post, and medical supplies. For instance, the World Economic Forum’s ‘Medicine from the sky’ initiative2 is using drones to deliver vaccines and medicine to remote areas in India.

Policy Shaping

In fact, this new advanced air mobility (AAM) sector has been developed globally, with applications being trialled and tested. This includes manned or unmanned drones and eVTOLs (electrical/ hybrid vertical take-off and landing aircraft) that can take off vertically without relying on a runway. Initially with a pilot, remote piloting or autonomous services could follow. The technology offers innovative services for passenger and goods transportation, data and image collection, and aerial works.