Assessment of external interface of autonomous vehicles

Abstract

The paper deals with the problem of a communication interface between autonomous vehicles (AV) and pedestrians. The introduced methodology for assessing new and existing e-HMI (external HMI) contributes to traffic safety in cities. The methodology is implemented in a pilot experiment with a scenario designed in virtual reality (VR). The simulated scene represents an urban zebra crossing with an approaching autonomous vehicle. The projection is implemented with the help of a head-up display – a headset with a built-in eye tracker. The suggested methodology analyses the pedestrian’s decision making based on the visual cues – the signals displayed on the autonomous vehicle. Furthermore, the decision making is correlated to subjects’ eye behaviour, based on gaze-direction data. The method presented in this paper contributes to the safety of a vehicle-pedestrian communication of autonomous vehicles and is a part of a research that shall further contribute to the design and assessment of external communication interfaces of AV in general.