Human Perception of Collision and Safety in Densely Populated Airspaces

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In the very near future, our skies may be occupied with various types of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) assigned with low-altitude missions. Given that uncrewed and crewed aircraft are expected to share the same airspace, addressing passenger perceptions of UAVs is crucial for maintaining confidence in air travel safety. Autonomous and remotely piloted UAVs operating in a human-integrated dense airspace must operate in a manner that is both safe and easily predictable by human observers. In this study, simulations of various UAV collision-avoidance scenarios were generated, which were then used to produce realistic video clips representing the scenarios. Human participants were then asked to rate the scenarios in terms of their perception of likelihood of collision and sense of safety. These ratings were used to assess the accuracy of human perception of near collisions and flight safety, both as a passenger inside an aircraft and as a ground observer. The results highlight some important trends in human perception of safety in the airspace. Human observers feel less safe when observing the airspace from the ground compared to being inside an aircraft. They also feel more unsafe in the presence of uncooperative aircraft in the airspace.