Designing Interactions With Shared AVs in Complex Urban Mobility Scenarios

Abstract

In this article, we report on the design and evaluation of an external human-machine interface (eHMI) for a real autonomous vehicle (AV), developed to operate as a shared transport pod in a pedestrianized urban space. We present insights about our human-centered design process, which included testing initial concepts through a tangible toolkit and evaluating 360-degree recordings of a staged pick-up scenario in virtual reality. Our results indicate that in complex mobility scenarios, participants filter for critical eHMI messages; further, we found that implicit cues (i.e., pick-up manoeuvre and proximity to the rider) influence participants' experience and trust, while at the same time more explicit interaction modes are desired. This highlights the importance of considering interactions with shared AVs as a service more holistically, in order to develop knowledge about AV-pedestrian interactions in complex mobility scenarios that complements more targeted eHMI evaluations.

References in corpus (2)

• A Review of Virtual Reality Studies on Autonomous Vehicle--Pedestrian Interaction
• A Tangible Multi-Display Toolkit to Support the Collaborative Design Exploration of AV-Pedestrian Interfaces

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Pedestrian-Vehicle Interaction in Shared Space: Insights for Autonomous Vehicles
• Advancing VR Simulators for Autonomous Vehicle-Pedestrian Interactions: A Focus on Multi-Entity Scenarios
• From Passersby to Placemaking: Designing Autonomous Vehicle-Pedestrian Encounters for an Urban Shared Space
• Virtual Urban Field Studies: Evaluating Urban Interaction Design Using Context-Based Interface Prototypes
• Enhancing Autonomous Vehicle-Pedestrian Interaction in Shared Spaces: The Impact of Intended Path-Projection