External human–machine interfaces: Gimmick or necessity?

The last few years have seen a wealth of research on external human–machine interfaces (eHMIs). It has been argued that eHMIs are vital because they fill the social interaction void that arises with the introduction of automated vehicles (AVs). However, there is still much discussion about whether eHMIs are needed. The present article surveys...

How should external human-machine interfaces behave? Examining the effects of colour, position, message, activation distance, vehicle yielding, and visual distraction among 1,434 participants

External human-machine interfaces (eHMIs) may be useful for communicating the intention of an automated vehicle (AV) to a pedestrian, but it is unclear which eHMI design is most effective. In a crowdsourced experiment, we examined the effects of (1) colour (red, green, cyan), (2) position (roof, bumper, windshield), (3) message (WALK, DON'T...

Visual Attention of Pedestrians in Traffic Scenes: A Crowdsourcing Experiment

In a crowdsourced experiment, the effects of distance and type of the approaching vehicle, traffic density, and visual clutter on pedestrians’ attention distribution were explored. 966 participants viewed 107 images of diverse traffic scenes for durations between 100 and 4000 ms. Participants’ eye-gaze data were collected using the TurkEyes...

When will most cars be able to drive fully automatically? Projections of 18,970 survey respondents

When fully automated cars will be widespread is a question that has attracted considerable attention from futurists, car manufacturers, and academics. This paper aims to poll the public's expectations regarding the deployment of fully automated cars. In 15 crowdsourcing surveys conducted between June 2014 and January 2019, we obtained answers...

Take-over requests in highly automated driving: A crowdsourcing survey on auditory, vibrotactile, and visual displays

An important research question in the domain of highly automated driving is how to aid drivers in transitions between manual and automated control. Until highly automated cars are available, knowledge on this topic has to be obtained via simulators and self-report questionnaires. Using crowdsourcing, we surveyed 1692 people on auditory,...