Proactive empty vehicle rebalancing for Demand Responsive Transport services

Worldwide, ridesharing business is steadily growing and has started to receive attention also by public transport operators. With future fleets of Autonomous Vehicles, new business models connecting schedule-based public transport and feeder fleets might become a feasible transport mode. However, such fleets require a good management to warrant a high level of service. One of the key aspects of this is proactive vehicle rebalancing based on the expected demand for trips. In this paper we model vehicle rebalancing as the Dynamic Transportation Problem. Results suggest that waiting times can be cut by around 30 % without increasing the overall vehicle miles travelled for a feeder fleet in rural Switzerland

Understanding Working Scenarios of Urban Air Mobility

Urban Air Mobility (UAM) can provide new air mobility faster and avoid city traffic with the growth of new technologies. But they need to be co-developed with the city infrastructure. Thus, understanding the working scenarios of UAM and how they will interact with the city and the other modes of transport systems is vital. Storyboarding helps policymakers, city planners, designers, and investors better understand the product's contextual interaction over time. This process allows the design team to be implicit or express a design that is easy to understand, reflect upon, or modify. © The Author(s), 2022

Carbon dioxide life cycle assessment on urban air mobility in context of emergency medical service

This thesis presents the development of life cycle assessment framework, which includes a series of conceptual models, to evaluate the end-to-end environmental impacts of Urban Air Mobility (UAM) systems, with a specific focus on their application in Emergency Medical Services (EMS) scenarios. The LCA study examines two types of UAM technologies: drones for the delivery of medical supplies and medium-sized electric Vertical Take-off and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft for the transport of medical personnel or patients. The proposed LCA assessment framework incorporates sensitivity analysis modules to account for the uncertainties prevalent in the respective domains. The carbon dioxide emissions in the UAM ecosystem are largely due to the construction and operation of supporting ground infrastructure, as well as the production and operation of unmanned aerial systems, as underscored by this thesis. The analysis reveals that motor production generates the highest environmental impact, while battery-related impacts are uncertain and influenced by flight frequency. Additionally, the study emphasizes the importance of local grid intensity and weather conditions in determining the overall emissions associated with UAM operations. As UAM technologies continue to mature, it is advocated that additional scenario-based and network-level evaluations be carried out. The developed framework in this thesis holds potential for enhancement through improvements in data quality, thereby contributing to a more robust understanding of the environmental implications of UAM in EMS contexts

Demand estimation for aerial vehicles in urban settings

The idea of flying has always fascinated mankind. A century ago it became reality when in 1914 the first commercial flight was offered. In recent times, many entities are planning, developing and testing aerial vehicles and systems that will move goods and people in urban scenarios. Consequently, the need to develop appropriate planning tools and to investigate the potentials for this kind of transportation is needed. In this paper we present a methodology for simulation and demand estimation for personal aerial vehicles (PAVs) in urban settings. The methodology is then utilized to analyze the impacts of PAVs with different vehicle and system parameters on the demand. The findings show that with higher automation and falling prices, PAVs have a potential to be an important transportation mode, by serving not only middistance trips, but also shorter trips in urban settings. The analysis also show that unlike for car and public transport service, vehicle parameters of PAVs have a substantial impact on the demand and turnover. Furthermore, an optimization procedure that minimizes fixed costs of the PAVs by minimizing the fleet size and variable costs by minimizing the empty kilometers of PAVs for the estimated demand in the region of Zurich, Switzerland, is proposed. Optimized service ensures that much wider range of possible vehicle concepts can be utilized to serve the demand