Advanced air mobility

Advanced air mobility (AAM) are systems that incorporate support for next-generation transport such as such as remotely piloted, autonomous, or vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft.[1][2][3] This includes those powered by electric or hybrid-electric propulsion.[4]

AAM seeks to support unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and sustainable aircraft. This requires the development of physical infrastructure for vertiports as well as highly automated digital infrastructure, i.e. UAS traffic management (UTM).[5]

Volocopter eVTOL aircraft

AAM combines both urban air mobility (UAM), which involves transporting persons and cargo above the traffic within a city and regional air mobility (RAM) which is focused more on connecting suburbs, villages and rural towns as well as islands or adjacent communities separated by mountainous regions.[6][7][8] UAM has attracted the majority of investment.[9] AAM expands upon the principles of UAM to applications beyond the urban environment:[10]

  • Intra-city air transport
  • Inter-city air transport
  • Cargo delivery
  • Public service
  • Private vehicles

In February 2020, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine expanded[3] the scope of the developing UAM concept beyond Manhattan use cases.[11] Since March 2020, UAM has been considered an element of AAM, as defined by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).[12] Four months later, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) formally adopted the term.[10]

According to a May 2021 market valuation by Morgan Stanley, AAM is projected to be worth $1 trillion US dollars by 2040 and up to $9 trillion a decade later.[13] However, consulting firm Drone Industry Insights, which primarily focuses on the commercial drone market, offers a more conservative forecast of $20.8 billion by 2035, with a CAGR of 22.1%.[6]

  1. ^ Advanced Air Mobility Institute. https://aaminstitute.org/mission
  2. ^ Gipson, Lillian (January 27, 2021). "Advanced Air Mobility Mission Overview". NASA.
  3. ^ a b “Advancing Aerial Mobility: A National Blueprint” National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. 2020.
  4. ^ "Advanced Aviation Infrastructure Modernization Act". congress.gov. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  5. ^ Gipson, Lillian (31 August 2018). "UAS Traffic Management (UTM) Project". NASA. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
  6. ^ a b Alvarado, Ed (2023-02-03). "The Vision of Advanced Air Mobility: eVTOLs, Drone Delivery, Vertipots and UTM". Drone Industry Insights.
  7. ^ “Urban Air Mobility and Advanced Air Mobility”. Federal Aviation Administration. United States Department of Transportation. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
  8. ^ “Regional Air Mobility: Leveraging our National investments to energize the American Travel Experience”. NASA. April 2021.
  9. ^ "Urban Air Mobility" (PDF). NASA. November 2018.
  10. ^ a b "Urban Air Mobility and Advanced Air Mobility". Federal Aviation Administration. United States Department of Transportation. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
  11. ^ Banke, Jim (23 March 2020). “One Word Change Expands NASA's Visions for Future Airspace Mobility” NASA. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
  12. ^ Hill, Brian (2 December 2020). “UAM Vision Concept of Operations (ConOps) UAM Maturity Level (UML) 4”. NASA Technical Reports Server. NASA. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
  13. ^ Morgan Stanley Research (6 May 2021). "Urban Air Mobility TAM Update: A Slow Take-Off, But Sky's the Limit" (PDF). Retrieved 4 January 2023.