ADVISORY AND ADAPTIVE COMMUNICATION IMPROVES TRUST IN AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE AND PEDESTRIAN INTERACTION

摘要

Autonomous vehicle (AV) is considered to be a significant part of the future of the automotive industry, with advantages such as higher transportation safety, less greenhouse gas emission, and wider transportation accessibility. However, the fruit of this technology cannot meet with much success in the market without an appropriate level of human trust, which might lead to refusing to adopt it, or using it in a wrong way. Therefore, except for improving safety of the technology itself, interactions between AV and human around it, such as pedestrians, are also paramount, especially effective communication. It is expected that certain communication could improve trust, and enable people to respond and act towards it accurately. This paper conducted a preliminary online study for a proof of concept that communication style (informative, advisory, and commanding) and communication strategy (single communication, adaptive communication) could affect pedestrian crossing decision process. The results demonstrate that advisory style improves trust in A Vs when a Cross decision is expected by A Vs, while both commanding and advisory styles improve trust in A Vs when a Not Cross decision is expected by AVs. In addition, adaptive communication strategy improves trust significantly when AVs expect pedestrians to cross. This study helps understanding the communication between AV and pedestrians and is instrumental in developing more advanced AV communication mechanisms.