External Interface-based Autonomous Vehicle-to-Pedestrian Communication in Urban Traffic: Communication Needs and Design Considerations

Abstract

ABSTRACT External interface-based autonomous vehicle-to-pedestrian (AV2P) communication will facilitate the interaction between autonomous vehicle (AV) and pedestrian in future urban traffic. However, there are still no designs of external interface that could be generally accepted nowadays. In this regard, more sufficient research should be conducted to understand pedestrian’s needs for the communication and explore the considerations for the external interface design. To investigate these issues in this work, two focus groups and a design study were conducted with 14 users (i.e., pedestrians) and 4 experienced designers, respectively. Based on the obtained results, the pedestrian-required communication information from the vehicle for the AV-pedestrian interaction were extracted and classified into the state of vehicle, the intention of vehicle, and the vehicle advice to pedestrians. A taxonomy of AV-pedestrian interaction situations was developed in accordance with the different situation features subsequently. Finally, considerations about the design of external AV2P communication interface were summarized. The results showed that the interface design should be made with consideration of specific situation features. It also revealed that the communication interface should be understandable, concise, salient, and unambiguous. Findings in this work is expected could serve as valuable design bases or principles for the development of interface-based AV2P communication in the future.