Enhancing safety and workload management in eVTOL cockpits through the assessment of pilot’s perception of HMI models
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3846/aviation.2026.26073Abstract
The rapid emergence of electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft is expected to revolutionize Urban Air Mobility (UAM) as eVTOL enabling low-emission, point-to-point aerial transportation. The viability of these aircraft is deeply tied to the concept of Single-Pilot Operations, which places intense cognitive, operational, and decision-making loads on the pilot, particularly in dense urban environments. In this context, the Human–Machine Interface (HMI) plays a critical role as it acts as pilot’s “crew member”, effectively functioning and supporting the pilot and increasing situational awareness, workload management, and safe decision-making. This study is a combined method of research design that was implemented, combining a structured online survey and interviews among aviation professionals, including pilots, engineers and human factors specialists to understand and detect their perceptions of HMI requirements for single-pilot eVTOL operations, focusing on workload management, situational awareness, automation interaction, and trust in advanced cockpit technologies. Moreover, open-source flight simulator FlightGear was used to partially depict the results. The findings revealed that maintaining situational awareness without a co-pilot is the dominant challenge, with strong preferences for “eyes-out” displays like physical controls and Head-Up Displays in high-workload scenarios. A significant connection was found between professional expertise and trust in AI copilots. Quantitative data from the survey were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics (e.g., t-tests, ANOVA, correlation, regression), supported by graphical representations. The findings show the crucial importance of pilot-focused HMIs for the most important determining factors namely, the problem of maintaining Situation Awareness, multi-tasking and managing cognitive load, the pilot’s central problem without the assistance or presence of the co-pilot in the aircraft. This paper presents the Adaptive, Multimodal, Context-Aware (AMCA) HMI design framework that will benefit the future design of single-pilot eVTOL aircraft cockpits. The study provides concrete design inputs for manufacturers and regulatory and training bodies regarding the challenge of certification and operation of the newly developing Urban Air Mobility solutions.
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eVTOL, Urban Air Mobility, Human–Machine Interface, situational awareness, cognitive workload, single-pilot operationsHow to Cite
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Copyright (c) 2026 The Author(s). Published by Vilnius Gediminas Technical University.
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