Camara, F orcid.org/0000-0002-2655-1228, Dickinson, P and Fox, C (2021) Evaluating pedestrian interaction preferences with a game theoretic autonomous vehicle in virtual reality. Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, 78. pp. 410-423. ISSN 1369-8478
Abstract
Localisation and navigation of autonomous vehicles (AVs) in static environments are now solved problems, but how to control their interactions with other road users in mixed traffic environments, especially with pedestrians, remains an open question. Recent work has begun to apply game theory to model and control AV-pedestrian interactions as they compete for space on the road whilst trying to avoid collisions. But this game theory model has been developed only in unrealistic lab environments. To improve their realism, this study empirically examines pedestrian behaviour during road crossing in the presence of approaching autonomous vehicles in more realistic virtual reality (VR) environments. The autonomous vehicles are controlled using game theory, and this study seeks to find the best parameters for these controls to produce comfortable interactions for the pedestrians. In a first experiment, participants’ trajectories reveal a more cautious crossing behaviour in VR than in previous laboratory experiments. In two further experiments, a gradient descent approach is used to investigate participants’ preference for AV driving style. The results show that the majority of participants were not expecting the AV to stop in some scenarios, and there was no change in their crossing behaviour in two environments and with different car models suggestive of car and last-mile style vehicles. These results provide some initial estimates for game theoretic parameters needed by future AVs in their pedestrian interactions and more generally show how such parameters can be inferred from virtual reality experiments.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. This is an author produced version of an article published in Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | Autonomous vehicles; Pedestrian crossing behaviour; Interactions; Game theory; Human factors |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > Institute for Transport Studies (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number EU - European Union 723395 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 08 Apr 2021 14:49 |
Last Modified: | 30 Mar 2022 00:38 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.trf.2021.02.017 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:172846 |
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