External interaction principles for creating trust in HAV

Safe and efficient traffic interactions require mutual understanding and trust between road users. To accomplish this, road users use various communication signals from each other, vehicles and traffic environment. With the introduction of automated vehicles, some of these signals will disappear, while new signals will be possible. The question is then whether automated vehicles need to communicate in a new way to ensure that other road users understand and trust them?

This is investigated in the research project 'External interaction principles for creating trust in heavy automated vehicles - phase 1' which is carried out by Scania, RISE and University of Halmstad. The project is co-financed by the FFI programme 'Electronics, software and communication (EMK)'.

The aim of the project is to identify which external interaction principles and external signals help building trust and acceptance of heavy automated vehicles on public roads. This project is significantly different from other projects in this area in that it addresses interactions between heavy automated vehicles, both buses and trucks, and other road users including pedestrians, cyclists and drivers in ordinary cars. The research so far has mostly focused on interactions between automated passenger cars and pedestrians. The project will thus generate unique knowledge for the industry and research community.

The expected results include: a) knowledge on how heavy AVs interact with other road users, b) guidelines on what, how and when to communicate to/from heavy AVs, c) interface prototypes of different fidelity levels, d) a mixed methodology framework for evaluation of external interactions in different settings, and e) one licentiate thesis focusing on safety, efficiency and experience.