Vulnerable road users and the coming wave of automated vehicles
Expert perspectives
Wilbert Tabone (TU Delft - Human-Robot Interaction)
Joost de Winter (TU Delft - Human-Robot Interaction)
Claudia Ackermann (Technische Universität Chemnitz)
Jonas Bärgman (Chalmers University of Technology)
Martin Baumann (University of Ulm)
Shuchisnigdha Deb (Univ. of Texas at Arlington)
Colleen Emmenegger (University of California)
Azra Habibovic (Research Institutes of Sweden RISE)
Marjan Hagenzieker (Transport and Planning)
P. A. Hancock (University of Central Florida)
Riender Happee (TU Delft - Intelligent Vehicles)
Josef Krems (Technische Universität Chemnitz)
John D. Lee (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
Marieke Martens (Eindhoven University of Technology)
Natasha Merat (University of Leeds)
Don Norman (University of California)
Thomas B. Sheridan (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Neville A. Stanton (University of Southampton)
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Abstract
Automated driving research over the past decades has mostly focused on highway environments. Recent technological developments have drawn researchers and manufacturers to look ahead at introducing automated driving in cities. The current position paper examines this challenge from the viewpoint of scientific experts. Sixteen Human Factors researchers were interviewed about their personal perspectives on automated vehicles (AVs) and the interaction with VRUs in the future urban environment. Aspects such as smart infrastructure, external human-machine interfaces (eHMIs), and the potential of augmented reality (AR) were addressed during the interviews. The interviews showed that the researchers believed that fully autonomous vehicles will not be introduced in the coming decades and that intermediate levels of automation, specific AV services, or shared control will be used instead. The researchers foresaw a large role of smart infrastructure and expressed a need for AV-VRU segregation, but were concerned about corresponding costs and maintenance requirements. The majority indicated that eHMIs will enhance future AV-VRU interaction, but they noted that implicit communication will remain dominant and advised against text-based and instructive eHMIs. AR was commended for its potential in assisting VRUs, but given the technological challenges, its use, for the time being, was believed to be limited to scientific experiments. The present expert perspectives may be instrumental to various stakeholders and researchers concerned with the relationship between VRUs and AVs in future urban traffic.
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions; Innovative Training Networks (ITN); SHAPE-IT; Grant number 860410
Publication date: 4 January 2021
DOI: 10.1016/j.trip.2020.100293
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