Advanced Autonomous Mobility toward Low-Altitude Economy and Three-Dimensional Transportation Systems

Dear Colleagues,

The rapid advancement of autonomous vehicles, electric Vertical Take-off and Landing (eVTOL), advanced air mobility (AAM), and drone taxis, along with the increasing demand for efficient urban mobility solutions, are opening new frontiers in urban planning and logistics, promising to reshape our transportation systems as part of smart cities. This Special Issue aims to explore the cutting-edge developments in advanced autonomous mobility, with a particular focus on low-altitude economic activities and three-dimensional (3D) transportation systems.

We invite original research papers, comprehensive reviews, and visionary perspectives that address the technological challenges of this emerging field. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

1. Autonomous aerial vehicles for urban air mobility
2. Autonomous ground vehicles for smart cities
3. End-to-end autonomous ground and aerial vehicle technologies
4. AI and machine learning applications in 3D traffic management
5. Cybersecurity and privacy concerns in connected aerial and ground mobility
6. Autonomous multimodal mobility technologies
7. 3D Transportation Infrastructure planning and design
8. Sensor technologies and perception systems for 3D transportation navigation
9. Energy-efficient propulsion systems for aerial vehicles
10. Human factors for aerial autonomous mobility

This Special Issue aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the current state-of-the-art, challenges, and future directions in advanced autonomous mobility within the low-altitude economic sphere. We welcome contributions from academia, and industry to foster interdisciplinary dialogue and accelerate the development of safe, efficient, and sustainable 3D transportation systems.

Dr. Xiangkun He
Dr. Henglai Wei
Dr. Hailong Huang
Dr. Caizheng Wang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Drones is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• autonomous aerial vehicles for urban air mobility
• autonomous ground vehicles for smart cities
• end-to-end autonomous ground and aerial vehicle technologies
• AI and machine learning applications in 3D traffic management
• cybersecurity and privacy concerns in connected aerial and ground mobility 
• autonomous multimodal mobility technologies
• 3D transportation infrastructure planning and design
• sensor technologies and perception systems for 3D transportation navigation
• energy-efficient propulsion systems for aerial vehicles 
• human factors for aerial autonomous mobility