Taxonomy and Abstraction of the On-demand Mobility Aviation System for Smart Cities

Abstract

The on-demand mobility aviation system is a new paradigm providing aircraft-based point-to-point transportation services to travelers in urban and suburban areas. Many consider it as the next revolution in intelligent transportation systems. Since it does not require pre-scheduling and vehicles travel at high speed, travel times are dramatically decreased, which overcomes issues of the current ground transportation system, improves travel times and level of service, increases productivity and creates new business models. Likewise, it is envisioned to generate positive environmental outcomes. Since this is a new and unique mode of intelligent transportation, few is known about its potential success and pitfalls. This paper investigates the key operational constraints required to implement the on-demand mobility system, including cyber-physical infrastructure, vehicular technologies, demand, air traffic control, regulations, and competition with other modes. The main contribution of this research is providing a system-of-systems modeling framework to understand and forecast on-demand mobility performance, which is based on a comprehensive review of the state-of-the art on all the components involved in on-demand mobility operations. Such framework adds values to public transportation agencies, researchers, developers, and industries interested in current and future efforts associated.