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• Drivers on slip roads want vehicles on the target lane to decelerate. • Drivers in target lanes rate the behaviour of vehicles on slip roads ambiguously. • AVs are rated identically or even more positively than MVs with identical behaviour. • No different safety distance is kept from automated vehicles. • Results show that cross-border traffic between Germany and UK with AVs is feasible. • Intercultural aspects must still be considered in the development of AVs. To ensure safe and uninterrupted traffic flow, (semi-)automated vehicles must be capable of providing comprehensible and agreeable implicit communication cues to human drivers. This driving simulator study investigated the assessment of implicit communication at a motorway slip road through longitudinal driving dynamics (acceleration, deceleration, and maintaining speed). The second aim of the study was to determine whether expectations of automated vehicles are different from those of human drivers. And thirdly, we investigated whether these findings are country-specific or can be (partially) generalised to other countries. The perception of three means of communication in connection with the presence of a labelling as an automated vehicle (eHMI) was examined in two samples in Germany and England. 27 participants drove from a slip road onto the motorway and interacted with another vehicle. After a stretch on the motorway, they passed a second slip road on which there was a vehicle merging onto the participants lane. This was repeated six times to test all variables. After each situation, the perceived cooperativity and criticality was recorded, as well as the time headway (THW) to the other vehicle. This paper presents the findings from the UK sample and compares them with the German results, which were previously published. Results show, that when the cooperating vehicles are on the slip road, participants from both countries prefer this vehicle to decelerate. However, when participants themselves are on the slip road, expectations for vehicles on the target lane are ambiguous in the UK sample. Except for one aspect (perceived cooperativity of decelerating vehicles on the slip road), the perception of automated vehicles is similar to those of manual drivers. Also, UK participants do not maintain a different safety distance from these vehicles, while this is the case in the German sample. This paper contributes valuable insights into the cross-cultural evaluation of driving dynamics, shedding light on implications for the development and acceptance of automated vehicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study investigated users' subjective evaluation of three highly automated driving styles, in terms of comfort and naturalness, when negotiating a UK road in a high-fidelity, motion-based, driving simulator. Background: Comfort and naturalness play an important role in contributing to users' acceptance and trust of automated vehicles (AVs), although not much is understood about the types of driving style which are considered comfortable or natural. Method: A driving simulator study, simulating roads with different road geometries and speed limits, was conducted. Twenty-four participants experienced three highly automated driving styles, two of which were recordings from human drivers, and the other was based on a machine learning (ML) algorithm, termed Defensive, Aggressive, and Turner, respectively. Participants evaluated comfort or naturalness of each driving style, for each road segment, and completed a Sensation Seeking questionnaire, which assessed their risk-taking propensity. Results: Participants regarded both human-like driving styles as more comfortable and natural, compared with the less human-like, ML-based, driving controller. Particularly, between the two human-like controllers, the Defensive style was considered more comfortable, especially for the more challenging road environments. Differences in preference for controller by driver trait were also observed, with the Aggressive driving style evaluated as more natural by the high sensation seekers. Conclusion: Participants were able to distinguish between human- and machine-like AV controllers. A range of psychological concepts must be considered for the subjective evaluation of controllers. Application: Insights into how different driver groups evaluate automated vehicle controllers are important in designing more acceptable systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• There has been a limited scope of investigation of the contextual factors affecting driver decision-making during narrow passage interactions. • The study found that the likelihood of giving way may alter due to characteristics of the interaction partners, including their vehicle type. • It was also found that factors, external to the direct interaction partners, may affect the likelihood of giving way, such as the presence of vehicles beyond the direct interaction partners. • This paper validates previous communication findings in a UK context. Narrow passage interactions have received increased attention from academics seeking to create behavioural models of the interaction and those looking to define how autonomous vehicles (AVs) should interact with their human counterparts in a composite road system. Despite this increased attention, many factors remain unexplored in the narrow passage literature, with the literature also encompassing few driving culture contexts. To this end, this study employs an explorative survey to identify additional factors that affect driver decision-making during narrow passage interactions, as well as driver perceptions of different communications in a UK context. The study's 243 participants were presented with a range of different narrow passage scenarios and asked to indicate how likely they were to give way/yield to a vehicle approaching the narrow passage from the opposite direction. In addition, they also completed the Multidimensional Driving Style Inventory to identify their driving styles and asked to identify which signals they look for from their interaction partner during narrow passage interactions, as well as the meaning of those signals. The results of the study show that situational characteristics such as the vehicle type being interacted with, being in a rush and being followed by vehicles alter the likelihood of drivers giving way at narrow passages, whilst a person's driving style can also indicate how likely someone is to give way to another vehicle. These results highlight the factors that are considered by drivers, increasing our understanding of the factors that need to be incorporated in driver behaviour models and in AV development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, there has been a remarkable development in the technology and legislation related to electric and autonomous vehicles (i.e., EVs/AVs). This technological advancement requires the deployment of the most up-to-date supporting infrastructure to achieve safe operation. Further infrastructure is needed for Level 5 vehicles, namely the introduction of super-fast wireless 5G technology. To achieve harmony between the rapid technological advancement of EVs/AVs and environmental preservation, enacting legislation related to their sustainable use is vital. Thus, this manuscript provides a review of the technological development of EVs/AVs, with a special focus on carbon footprints and the implementation of additive manufacturing using recycled materials. While EVs have a 12.13% increased carbon footprint compared to conventional vehicles, AVs with basic and advanced intelligence features have an increased carbon footprint of 41.43% and 99.65%, respectively. This article emphasizes that the integration of 3D-printed components has the potential to offset this impact with a substantial 60% reduction. As a result, custom-made solutions involving 3D printing are explored, leading to greater speed, customization, and cost-effectiveness for EVs/AVs. This article also lists the advantages and disadvantages of the existing legislation in Spain, the United Kingdom, and the western Balkans, demonstrating various approaches to promoting electric mobility and the development of autonomous vehicles. In Spain, initiatives like the MOVES program incentivize EV adoption, while the UK focuses on expanding the EV market and addressing concerns about EVs' quiet operation. In the western Balkans, the adoption of legislation lags behind, with limited incentives and infrastructure for EVs. To boost sales, legal mechanisms are necessary to reduce costs and improve accessibility, in addition to offering subsidies for the purchase of EVs. To this end, an analysis of the incentive measures proposed for the development and use of renewable power sources for the supply of energy for EVs/AVs is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Connected and autonomous vehicles (CAV) have seen a rapid development over the past decade. However, wide diffusion of high level CAVs is still decades to come, and will depend on many technological, policy and public acceptance factors. Merging a traditional Bass Diffusion Model with a discrete choice model in a system dynamics approach, this study modelled CAV diffusion from 2020 to 2070 in the UK, considering mode choices of CAV private car, CAV car/ride sharing and CAV bus, their possible impacts on road network performance and sustainability, and the feedback of these impacts to CAV diffusion. Results of this study suggest that without interventions CAV diffusion will start to increase rapidly from 2035, and reach market saturation of 98% in around 2057. CAV diffusion will lead to reductions in average travel time, average travel cost, carbon emission and traffic accident. Training campaign, which prepares the general public to be ready for CAVs, is more effective in accelerating CAV diffusion than marketing campaign, which mainly targets the innovators and early adopters. Promoting shared CAVs and CAV public transport can contribute to more sustainable and more affordable mobility with CAVs, although this may lead to smaller CAV market size in terms of CAV sale, and the market size may reduce at a higher rate than sustainability enhancement. • Diffusion of CAVs was simulated using system dynamics modelling based on Bass model. • CAVs of different modes, as well as wider impacts of CAV diffusion, were considered. • Interventions to accelerate CAV diffusion and to optimise CAV impacts were tested. • Training campaign for general public is important for accelerating CAV diffusion. • Promoting shared CAVs and CAV public transport can optimise CAV impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) present enormous uncertainties and challenges for future urban transport and mobility. While urban and transportation planning have significant roles to play in shaping these futures, a critical challenge is identifying and reconciling divergent values and competing visions in relation to this potentially disruptive transport technology and the associated mobility services. In this paper, we demonstrate the use of a participatory multi-criteria visioning and appraisal framework and methodology to enable stakeholders to envision, identify and interrogate essential tensions between imagined AV futures and long-term transport and mobility imperatives. Based on workshops with stakeholders at the forefront of policy and practice, and academia in Greater Manchester (UK) and Melbourne (Australia), we reveal several insights. Regarding the prospects of AVs, our participants are neither 'opponents' nor 'evangelists', but instead, manifest the contrasting attitudes and perspectives of excitement, optimism, ambivalence, scepticism and uncertainty all at the same time. In the visions outlined and appraised, our stakeholders identify AVs prospects in various use cases, such as public transport, personal and shared-use and urban freight and delivery applications, while at the same time recognising the inherent contradictions between automated driving futures outlined and imperatives such as reversing auto-mobility and creating safe and inclusive urban environments. Finally, the study brings to the fore the significant role of governance in mediating the politics and resolving contestations in critical areas including data management and privacy, cybersecurity and implementing viable business models and ownership arrangements. • Develop and apply participatory multi-criteria framework to envision and appraise automated driving futures. • Identify and interrogate essential tensions between imagined AV futures and long-term transport and mobility imperatives. • Identify AVs prospects in various use cases, such as public transport, personal and shared-use. • Inherent contradictions between automated driving, reversing auto-mobility and creating safe urban environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• UK survey and observation study of interactions with autonomous vehicles (AVs). • Pedestrians not perceived to be less vulnerable around AVs than around normal cars. • Pedestrians did not take undue risks around AVs at an undesignated crossing point. • Pedestrians, joggers, and cyclists yielded to AVs during passing in a shared space. • Positive (short-term) outlook for road safety but some concerns for mobility. Researchers have predicted that "vulnerable road users" (VRUs) such as pedestrians will feel less vulnerable and thus take more risks around autonomous vehicles (AVs) than around human-operated vehicles (HOVs). However, data on the behaviours pedestrians are likely to display during passing as well as crossing interactions with AVs – particularly from naturalistic studies – are currently lacking. Such data could help inform AV system designers and authorities, as well as researchers. So, a novel study was conducted in London, UK. Perceived vulnerability was gauged via a survey on hypothetical pedestrian-vehicle interactions (N = 267). Behaviours were observed during real crossing and passing interactions with AV shuttle pods in a shared space (N = 330). While pedestrians were the main focus, joggers and cyclists were also frequenting the observation site and were included in the analysis of passing interactions. The survey results showed that pedestrians were not perceived to be less vulnerable around AVs. Diminishing initial boldness in the crossing interactions, and high yielding in the passing interactions, supported this, demonstrating that VRUs were not taking undue risks; rather, they appeared to be experiencing some uncertainty and discomfort. Further results showed other VRU behaviours (gap acceptance, inattention, hesitation, changes in speed, explicit communication, a side preference) may be relevant in AV interactions, but not necessarily to the same degree as when around HOVs or not in line with UK road rules. Positive conclusions were drawn for AV programming, and for safety, at least in the short term, but concerns regarding mobility need addressing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many governments find it challenging to set up a regulatory regime to govern rapidly developing Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) technologies empowered by Artificial Intelligence. This paper analyzes flexible regulation as a tool for assessing regulatory reforms that govern disruptive innovations such as AVs. After defining flexible regulation as regulation that gives regulated entities choices for how to comply with the regulatory objectives, this paper develops Regulatory Flexibility Indicators (RFI) for rule structure, enforcement structure, and regulatory feedback. We study AVs regulatory reforms that took place recently in the United Kingdom and South Korea, focusing on how such reforms have enhanced regulation flexibility. This paper finds that regulatory governance in the United Kingdom is more flexible than in South Korea, indicating aspects of further reforms for improving regulatory flexibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Design of appropriate interaction and human–machine interfaces for the handover of control between vehicle automation and human driver is critical to the success of automated vehicles. Problems in this interfacing between the vehicle and driver have led, in some cases, to collisions and fatalities. In this project, Operator Event Sequence Diagrams (OESDs) were used to design the handover activities to and from vehicle automation. Previous work undertaken in driving simulators has shown that the OESDs can be used to anticipate the likely activities of drivers during the handover of vehicle control. Three such studies showed that there was a strong correlation between the activities drivers represented in OESDs and those observed from videos of drivers in the handover process, in driving simulators. For the current study, OESDs were constructed during the design of the interaction and interfaces for the handover of control to and from vehicle automation. Videos of drivers during the handover were taken on motorways in the UK and compared with the predictions from the OESDs. As before, there were strong correlations between those activities anticipated in the OESDs and those observed during the handover of vehicle control from automation to the human driver. This means that OESDs can be used with some confidence as part of the vehicle automation design process, although validity generalisation remains an important goal for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the potential for cost and carbon emission reduction for autonomous trucks to adopt lower peak speeds than today's human driven trucks, where the hourly cost of the driver remains a significant trade-off. Adopting lower speeds presents an indirect savings opportunity in addition to savings associated with the removal of the driver. Benefits and trade-offs for varying target speed of autonomous trucks on highways were investigated with a parameterised analysis of transport and cargo cost components. A validated fuel consumption model was used to compare fuel consumption for different speed strategies across idealised highway drive-cycles and vehicle scenarios. A volume-limited tractor-trailer (50% cargo mass capacity) could reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions by 26% when reducing target speed from 90 km/h to 70 km/h. When the trade-offs of driver, vehicle and cargo time are considered for the same 20 km/h target speed reduction, combined costs increase by 3% for the human driver scenario, but decrease by 4% for an autonomous truck (assuming medium cargo time value). Sensitivity to vehicle type, loading, drive-cycle and cargo value was examined. A UK supermarket chain case study was investigated and key differences between a UK and US context were compared. Mandatory rest breaks and Hours-of-Service restrictions were identified as additional barriers for human driven vehicles to adopt slower speed strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Acceptance of shared automated vehicles was investigated among United Kingdom private car owners through a focus group. • From a long list of factors based on previous research, three main factors (Service Quality, Trust, Price Value) came out as overwhelmingly discussed. • Shared Space Quality, Security and Trusting Co-passengers are introduced as important indicators to accept shared automated vehicles. • Trusting Co-passengers was found to be as important as Trusting Automated Vehicles. • An extended UTAUT2 is proposed for future acceptance research on shared automated vehicles. The development of Shared Automated Vehicles (SAVs) is well underway to provide mobility as a service (MaaS) and bring benefits such as reduced traffic congestion, reduced reliance on privately owned vehicles and increased independence to non-drivers. To realise the benefits of SAVs, adoption by private vehicle users is crucial. Previous research has shown this subset of users as the least likely to adopt SAVs, and it is not well understood what factors are important to achieve such adoption. The purpose of this study is to obtain an in-depth understanding of attitudes, perceptions and preferences that influence the acceptance of future SAVs for drivers. This paper presents the results from an online asynchronous focus group study with 21 British drivers as participants. From the analysis, Service Quality, Trust and Price Value emerged as the three most prominent factors to understand user acceptance of SAVs. These three main factors may be of prime importance for convincing naïve private car owners to accept high-speed SAVs. Productive use of travel time has been frequently mentioned in previous research as a benefit of vehicle automation but was scarcely mentioned by participants in this study. Shared Space Quality in introduced as an indicator for Service Quality, together with Security and Trusting Co-passengers as two indicators of Trust. Based on the findings, this paper concludes with a conceptual SAV technology acceptance model is introduced, with the results added as extended model predictors to the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interest from industry and policy makers on the use of autonomous goods vehicles (AGVs) for commercial use, has increased rapidly as the underlying technology has developed. This study looks at the potential impact of autonomous road haulage on logistics operations and barriers for commercial implementation in the UK. The research focuses on large goods vehicles, capable of automated driving, where the driver is not required for some or all of the journey, for logistics operations between suppliers, manufacturing plant, and retailer. The data is collected through semi-structured interviews and scoring questionnaires. All 76 participants had experience working in the logistics industry, from various parts of the operations process. The data was analysed using thematic analysis followed with the results subsequently ranked by participants to identify the importance and perceived impact. Results revealed a near-term barrier for adoption of autonomous technology, is the lack of standardisation, as technology is progressing in many different directions, with little consultation on what features are needed or how they will be implemented. The findings show the main impact of commercialisation of autonomous road haulage are overall maintenance cost reduction, due to less wear and tear, and operational cost reduction, especially for long-haul journeys, as vehicles can operate for longer hours. Moreover, despite barriers in the short term, such as public acceptance and transition costs, these will likely be outweighed by improvements in efficiency and utilisation. Based on findings from the study, we present six key considerations for the introduction of commercial autonomous road haulage, which can be used as a guide for policy makers, insurance companies, transport planning authorities, and vehicle manufacturers. • Six key recommendations are presented for the introduction of autonomous road haulage. • Interviews conducted with 76 experts from the logistics industry. • Autonomous trucks are viewed as a necessary solution to driver shortages. • Autonomous road haulage barriers include standardisation, AV legislation, and cost. • Upfront cost should be outweighed by improvements in efficiency and utilisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs) are promised by their developers to transform mobilities, making travel accessible to all – including those unable to drive due to age, affordability or disability – and thereby widen the distribution of what Urry calls 'network capital'. This paper interrogates promotional visualizations about CAVs as they imagine future automated mobilities and the scaling up of the technologies from small trials to mass roll-out. It analyses a wide range of images from a CAV trial in a UK city and demonstrates that these images reinforce rather than disrupt traditional gendered associations of automobility. This study further develops this work and notes other ways in which visualizations of CAV-enabled network mobility reiterate existing network capital inequalities. It also pays careful attention to the background urban environment in which CAVS are pictured. The paper argues that an absence of people and place specificity enable CAV technologies to be imagined as being used in other locations and contexts. Hence the visualizations of CAV that picture only specific forms corporeal mobility also work to envision the mobility of entrepreneurial capital, as the software and hardware behind the driverless vehicle is shown as transferable to, and profitable in, different contexts and situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autonomous vehicles technology is an emerging area and has attracted lots of recognition in recent times. Accidents-free driving has always been the focal point of autonomous vehicles. Autonomous vehicles have the potential to eliminate human errors while driving, which has been argued as the predominant cause of traffic accidents. In autonomous vehicles technologies, a variety of efforts have been made to eliminate human drivers. The full elimination of humans is not possible at this moment, but some of the tasks can be automated to facilitate the drivers. In this paper, we investigate the leading causes of accidents based on UK vehicle safety data of 2017-2018. We analyze the data and investigate the leading factors which cause traffic crashes. Based on the leading features in the dataset, we then run different prediction algorithms to predict the severity of accidents under a given input feature set. The accuracy of the model with Decision Tree classifier, Random Forest, and Logistic Regression are compared, and it has been found that Random Forest performs best among others with 95% accuracy. The trained random forest model is deployed on the Internet of Things server based on Arduino, and a lightweight application is developed to get the vital data from the driver. The data is applied to the trained model to predict the risk index of driving. This application is lightweight but yet provide a significant contribution in terms of safety in autonomous vehicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Examines the views of a sample of people with physical disabilities regarding autonomous vehicles (AVs). • Determines attitudes towards AVs using a semi-automated qualitative research methodology. • Compares the views of people with disabilities against a control group of people without disabilities. • Suggests topics for inclusion in social marketing AV acceptance campaigns. • Identifies variables likely to affect the attitudes of people with disabilities towards AVs. Autonomous vehicles (AVs) represent a technological revolution in the transportation sphere. The efficient and orderly introduction of AVs will require their acceptance by the public. Although the perspectives of members of the general public concerning AVs have been surveyed, no academic research has to date been completed on the views of AVs held by people with disabilities. The present study employs a mixed methods research methodology to assess attitudes towards AVs among a UK sample of individuals with physical disabilities that affected their mobility. Participants were asked open-endedly to express their thoughts about AVs and their responses were analysed using a structural topic modelling (STM) procedure. Outputs to the STM analysis were then employed in a structural equation model (SEM) constructed to predict the sample members' willingness to travel in driverless vehicles. The results were compared against those obtained from a control group of people without physical disabilities. The attitudes towards AVs of people with disabilities differed significantly from the attitudes of the respondents without disabilities. Attitudes towards AVs among people with disabilities were significantly influenced by their levels of interest in new technology, generalised anxiety, intensity of a person's disability, prior knowledge of AVs, locus of control and action orientation. A latent class analysis confirmed the relevance of these variables as determinants of the views of people with disabilities regarding AVs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• 58 English language survey studies of attitudes towards Autonomous Vehicles reviewed. • Results of survey of 11,827 drivers in 11 European countries reported. • On average, more drivers uncomfortable than comfortable with the prospect of AVs. • Perceptions of AVs covary with technological optimism and driving sociability. • Suggestions to improve attitude measures for AVs as novel technological objects. There have been many surveys of public responses to Autonomous Vehicles (AVs), both reported in peer-reviewed journals and in the mainstream media. People anchor their representations of novel technological objects within their existing experience. What elements of such experience anchor AVs? We review academic English language survey studies from 2015 to 2017 and surveys publicised in UK National newspapers which typically reveal discomfort about the prospect of AVs. Against this background we report the results of our own survey of 11,827 drivers across 11 European countries, addressing attitudes to driving alongside AVs as well as to riding in them. We establish a composite indicator of perceptions of AVs that combines responses on using AVs and sharing the road with them, and analyse its relationship with a set of covariate measures. Respondents' technological optimism and uptake of driving technology was associated with more positive perceptions of AVs, and measures of respondents' enjoyment of driving, and how 'sociable' they were towards fellow road users, was associated with more negative perceptions. The negative association between driving 'sociability' and enthusiasm for AVs was attenuated by levels of general technological optimism. We discuss the difficulties in researching public responses to novel technological objects and make suggestions for improvement in future survey research on AVs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much research is dependent on the willingness of participants to give up their time – whether renumerated or not – and engage with the activities we have designed such as interviews, surveys, writing diaries, and taking photos. We talk about social research being dependent on 'self-selection', but we say less about what happens when the people with whom we wish to engage do not agree to do so; when we are unable to get the insights we need to answer our research questions or respond to our research aims. In this Viewpoint, we discuss three interconnected methodological themes: locating and accessing participants, participant self-selection and identification in the context of the research, and topical fatigue. We discuss these themes in relation to recent developments in transport and the rise of autonomous vehicles in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Department of Transport in the United Kingdom recorded 25,080 motor vehicle fatalities in 2019. This situation stresses the need for an intelligent transport system (ITS) that improves road safety and security by avoiding human errors with the use of autonomous vehicles (AVs). Therefore, this survey discusses the current development of two main components of an ITS: (1) gathering of AVs surrounding data using sensors; and (2) enabling vehicular communication technologies. First, the paper discusses various sensors and their role in AVs. Then, various communication technologies for AVs to facilitate vehicle to everything (V2X) communication are discussed. Based on the transmission range, these technologies are grouped into three main categories: long-range, medium-range and short-range. The short-range group presents the development of Bluetooth, ZigBee and ultra-wide band communication for AVs. The medium-range examines the properties of dedicated short-range communications (DSRC). Finally, the long-range group presents the cellular-vehicle to everything (C-V2X) and 5G-new radio (5G-NR). An important characteristic which differentiates each category and its suitable application is latency. This research presents a comprehensive study of AV technologies and identifies the main advantages, disadvantages, and challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) are increasingly becoming a popular tool in the observation and study of marine mammals. However, the potential capabilities of these vehicles regarding autonomous operations are not being fully exploited for passive underwater acoustic monitoring in marine mammal research. This article presents results from the development of a UAV system equipped with an underwater acoustic recorder aimed at assisting with the monitoring of harbour porpoises in Special Areas of Conservation in the United Kingdom. The UAV is capable of autonomous navigation, persistent landing, take-off and automatic data acquisition at specified waypoints. The system architecture that enables autonomous UAV flight including waypoint planning and control is described. A bespoke lightweight underwater acoustic recorder (named the PorpDAQ) capable of transmitting the results of fast Fourier transforms (FFT) applied to incoming signals from a hydrophone was also designed. The system's operation is successfully validated with a combination of outdoor experiments and indoor simulations demonstrating different UAVs capable of autonomously navigating and landing at specific waypoints while recording data in an indoor tank. Results from the recorder suggest that lightweight, relatively low-cost systems can be used in place of heavier more expensive alternatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]