CommDisk: A Holistic 360° eHMI Concept to Facilitate Scalable, Unambiguous Interactions between Automated Vehicles and Other Road Users.

External Human-Machine Interfaces (eHMIs) are proposed to address the communication gap between automated vehicles (AVs) and other road users. However, existing concepts of eHMIs are often limited in their ability to communicate in a clear, unambiguous, and scalable way, which hinders their effectiveness. eHMIs typically communicate by showing the vehicle’s driving intention, situational awareness, or its path/ trajectory; none of which is independently able to sufficiently achieve effective and unambiguous communication. We created a novel eHMI concept which combines these three communication elements in one unified design that (1) promises a more seamless, two-way interaction between AVs and other road users, and (2) is capable of a better scalable, high-resolution communication, i.e., facilitating communication beyond one-on-one communication while mitigating ambiguity regarding the specific recipient of the communication message. This addresses some of the limitations of existing eHMIs and paves a path towards a novel approach in eHMI design for future AVs.