Communication between Autonomous Vehicles and Pedestrians: An Experimental Study Using Virtual Reality

Abstract

One of the major challenges of autonomous vehicles (AV) is their interaction with pedestrians. Unofficial interactions such as gestures, eye contact, waving, and flashing lights are very common behavioral patterns for drivers to express their intent to give priority. In our research we composed a virtual reality experiment for a pedestrian crossing in an urban environment in order to test pedestrians’ reactions on an LED light display mounted on a virtual AV. Our main research interest was to investigate whether communication patterns influence the decision making of pedestrians when crossing the road. In a VR environment, four scenarios were created with a vehicle approaching a pedestrian crossing with different speeds and displaying a special red/green sign to pedestrians. Here, 51 persons participating in the experiment had to decide when crossing is safe. Results show that the majority of people indicated they would cross in the time windows when it was actually safe to cross. Male subjects made their decision to cross slightly faster but no significant differences were found in the decision making by gender. It was found that age is not an influencing factor, either. Overall, a quick learning process was experienced proving that explicit communication patterns are self-explaining.

"It Must Be Gesturing Towards Me": Gesture-Based Interaction between Autonomous Vehicles and Pedestrians

“…The focus is on understanding interactions at crossroads between drivers and pedestrians, deriving insights from these interactions to guide the development of autonomous driving functions [9,45,57,62] Ackermann et al [1] believed that using existing communication methods (gestures, eye contact) by autonomous vehicles might be beneficial. These traditional and common behavior patterns of drivers expressing priority to pedestrians have been discussed between autonomous vehicles and pedestrians [73]. Risto et al [52] emphasized the need for AV developers to recognize and understand the impact and importance of motion gestures in daily traffic interactions, and to design effective and scalable forms of human-vehicle communication in multi-party interactions.…”

Driver-to-Driver Communication Skills: Contributing Factors to Traffic Accidents on South African Roads?

“…This communication could involve disclosing details about the autonomous vehicle's intentions, such as lane changes or braking manoeuvres, so that human drivers can prepare and react appropriately [43,46]. A different suggestion is to establish human-autonomous vehicle interaction zones, which are designated areas or interfaces, such as virtual reality, where people operating human-driven cars and autonomous cars can interact informally [58,59]. These zones may utilize specialized communication protocols to facilitate seamless interaction, ensuring safe and coordinated movement on the road [58,59].…”

“…A different suggestion is to establish human-autonomous vehicle interaction zones, which are designated areas or interfaces, such as virtual reality, where people operating human-driven cars and autonomous cars can interact informally [58,59]. These zones may utilize specialized communication protocols to facilitate seamless interaction, ensuring safe and coordinated movement on the road [58,59].…”