A drone survey, conducted by Forum Virium Helsinki, asked 500 Helsinki region residents about urban air mobility (UAM) and drone acceptance. The questions covered landing sites, use cases, and general knowledge about the topic.
The survey is part of a series carried out in six countries by the EU-funded CITYAM project. The questionnaire was developed by Tallinn University of Technology and it contains the same questions for all the cities.
The results from the Helsinki survey show that awareness of UAM is growing, but knowledge is still limited. A majority (nearly 54%) of residents report having “little information” on the topic, while nearly a quarter (24.5%) have “no information at all”, highlighting a need for more public education.
The survey results are similar to the ones obtained in 2023 as part of the AiRMOUR project and the previous results from the EU-funded CITYAM project gathered in the spring 2024. In 2024, 45% of the respondents reported they had a limited amount of information while 32% then said they didn’t know much or anything at all.
However, Forum Virium Helsinki notes that despite knowledge gaps, Helsinki citizens have shown, and continue to show, clear support for specific drone uses. “There’s strong acceptance of drones in emergency situations, with 64% finding this “very acceptable”. In the 2023 survey, a remarkable 91% of residents even welcomed drones near their homes in emergency situations. In other situations citizens preferred strongly uninhabited areas for landing sites.”
In the most recent survey, environmental monitoring also obtained high approval as a use case, with 53% considering it “very acceptable”.
Alongside acceptance, the survey also reveals public concerns. In the most recent survey, “criminal activity” was a significant worry, with 27.3% of respondents expressing being “very worried” about it. Survey respondents also cited “invasion of privacy” and “misuse of data” as concerning. These responses echo the prominent worries from the earlier surveys. The noise caused by drones does not feature in the top five concerns, even though this is a topic that often causes discussion. Overall, it was ranked 6th out of 12 concerns by respondents.
The safety of drone take-off and landing sites is rated as “very important” by the majority of Helsinki’s survey respondents. Regarding suitable locations for drone operations, residents consistently express clear preferences, with industrial areas and the roofs of commercial buildings being favoured. Conversely, sidewalks and street infrastructure (like public transport stops) were widely considered “not suitable at all”. This aligns with the previous findings, which showed strong opposition to drones flying freely over residential areas and pedestrian centres. All the surveys point to a consistent citizen desire for drone operations to minimise disruption and potential risks in highly populated urban spaces.
As Helsinki develops its UAM, continually incorporating insights from its citizens will be crucial for a successful and socially responsible integration of drone technology. As such, the CITYAM project will be holding a new drone survey for Helsinki residents later this year, to further gauge local attitudes, benchmarking them with the previous results and signalling longer-term trends.
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Image: Vesa Laitinen via Forum Virium Helsinki
