UAVs IN SMART CITIES: PUBLIC PERCEPTION PROBLEMATICS

Abstract

The city environment surrounds its inhabitants with various technical means that support them every day. These means include unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), that is drones. The presence of drones in cities, including smart cities, may cause controversy among residents related to the threat to the safety of using drones, interference with privacy, emitted sounds, monitoring, and other discomfort. Therefore, in the stage of increasing drone prevalence of the use in smart cities, the social perception of them by residents should be examined and taken into account. A certain novelty in this area is the analysis of social aspects, which is associated with the term Technology Assessment. Therefore, the authors conducted research on drone perception and their impact on quality of life using the following methods: literature study and survey. The article discusses the problem of drones in cities, referring to issues such as privacy (surveillance, data collection, monitoring, etc.), security, sounds, and many others. This first stage is based on the literature review and the authors� own experience and observations. This stage is the entrance to the survey development addressed to city residents. It allowed determining the areas for research on social perception and evaluation of drones. The results of research can contribute to increasing knowledge about residents' fears and expectations towards drones in smart cities, better city management, and improved the quality of life.