This听Royal Society funded听谤别蝉别补谤肠丑听辫谤辞箩别肠迟听aims to fill this gap related to 11 million d/Deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) people in the UK (potentially benefiting 450 million worldwide). We aim to employ a user-centred design approach with our stakeholders to provide an accessible eHMI for facilitating communication between AV and DHH pedestrians.听
笔谤辞箩别肠迟听础颈尘蝉
In traditional vehicle-pedestrian interactions, pedestrians could communicate with the vehicle through the vehicle's implicit communication (movement, trajectory, velocity and lateral changes). However, many vehicle-pedestrian accidents are caused by failing to identify the vehicle鈥檚 intention through these cues.
In addition to implicit communication, pedestrians often rely on informal communication channels from the driver (e.g., eye contact, hand gestures, and head gestures) to assess the driver鈥檚 intention and the imminent vehicle鈥檚 action. However, these interactions would not be reliable in automated vehicles as drivers no longer control the vehicle. External Human-Machine Interface (eHMI) has been proposed to address this issue and research suggests they are reliable in improving听vehicle-pedestrian interactions.听However, current eHMIs have predominantly focused on听迟丑别听typical populations,听which made听resulting in听the majority of these eHMI concepts听产别颈苍驳听苍辞迟听being fully听inclusive and unable to provide sufficient information to听people with disabilities.
奥别听are utilising听a user-centred design approach with our stakeholders to provide an accessible eHMI for facilitating communication between automated vehicles听(础痴)听and DHH pedestrians.听This eHMI听will听avoid confusion and hesitation in decision-making, prevent putting DHH individuals in dangerous situations and avoid accidents, even fatalities. Furthermore, this work aims to improve the accessibility of future transport, which is a legal obligation in many countries, including the UK (Equality Act 2010). Overall, it impacts standards and regulations, automotive manufacturers, the DHH population and the wider public.
Project Team
Research听Questions
- What accessibility-related challenges and difficulties do DHH people face with existing eHMIs for AV-pedestrian interaction?
- What are the user requirements of DHH people for designing an accessible eHMI to deal with AV-pedestrian interaction?
- Would co-designed inclusive eHMI lead to a better outcome than existing eHMIs and how?
Funder:
This project is funded through a听听grant.