UAS: How will the public respond

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UAS How will the public respond?

• Civilian Applications of Unmanned Aircraft
  Systems
• Boulder, CO October 2007

Susan Avery CIRES Fellow University of Colorado,
Boulder
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How do you obtain a favorable response from the
public?

• Public likes
• openness and transparency of the application of
  the technology
• sense of control
• clear understanding of benefits and value (not
  necessarily economic)
• honest and open discussion of potential problems

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Upsides and Downsides of Technologies

• Adoption of electricity in houses
• Labor saving devices, lights, etc
• Fires, deaths - until codes put in place and
  technology proven safe
• Air travel (flight attendants on first flights
  had to be registered nurses)
• Quick travel
• Perception of danger they would fall out of sky
• Genetic testing
• Potential better health
• Potentially uninsurable
• Nuclear energy
• Cleaner environment
• Waste disposal and weapons proliferation
• Cellular phones
• Connectedness, flexibility
• Loss of privacy, automobile accidents
• UAS
• Hazard response environmental change
  observations and science law enforcement
• Loss of air traffic safety, potential loss of
  privacy, perceived terrorist threat

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Public Perception of Risk

• Skewed cost-benefit studies
• Importance of individual control of the system
• Overestimate risk if technology isnt understood
• Different levels of acceptance of risk

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The Public Face of UAS

• Why are we doing it? How are we doing it?
• How is the information used and who has access to
  that information?
• How are they controlled? Who is in charge?
• What are potential uses and abuses?
• Will it be of benefit to me?
• Are they safe? Who is ultimately responsible?
• Education and familiarity