Multi-Modal eHMIs: The Relative Impact of Light and Sound in AV-Pedestrian Interaction

Debargha Dey, Toros Senan, Bart Hengeveld, Mark Colley, Azra Habibovic, Wendy Ju

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionAcademicpeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

External Human-Machine Interfaces (eHMIs) have been evaluated to facilitate interactions between Automated Vehicles (AVs) and pedestrians. Most eHMIs are, however, visual/light-based solutions, and multi-modal eHMIs have received little attention to date. We ran an experimental video study (N = 29) to systematically understand the effect on pedestrian's willingness to cross the road and user preferences of a light-based eHMI (light bar on the bumper) and two sound-based eHMIs (bell sound and droning sound), and combinations thereof. We found no objective change in pedestrians' willingness to cross the road based on the nature of eHMI, although people expressed different subjective preferences for the different ways an eHMI may communicate, and sometimes even strong dislike for multi-modal eHMIs. This shows that the modality of the evaluated eHMI concepts had relatively little impact on their effectiveness. Consequently, this lays an important groundwork for accessibility considerations of future eHMIs, and points towards the insight that provisions can be made for taking user preferences into account without compromising effectiveness.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationCHI '24
Subtitle of host publicationProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
EditorsFlorian Floyd Mueller, Penny Kyburz, Julie R. Williamson, Corina Sas, Max L. Wilson, Phoebe Toups Dugas, Irina Shklovski
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery, Inc
Number of pages16
ISBN (Electronic)979-8-4007-0330-0
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 11 May 2024
Event2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Sytems, CHI 2024 - Hybrid, Honolulu, United States
Duration: 11 May 202416 May 2024

Conference

Conference2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Sytems, CHI 2024
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityHybrid, Honolulu
Period11/05/2416/05/24

Keywords

  • Automated vehicle
  • eHMI
  • multimodal interface
  • pedestrian
  • vehicle-pedestrian interaction
  • VRU
  • vulnerable road user

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