Autonomous vehicles may be safer for pedestrians if they are equipped with a set of “eyes” that indicate where the vehicle is “looking,” according to a recent study.
Performed by the University of Tokyo, the study found that a vehicle fitted with robotic eyes programmed to either look at the pedestrian or away from them, made it easier for bystanders to make safer or more efficient choices when crossing the street in front of the vehicle.
The test car for the study was named the “Gazing Car,” and featured a set of large, cartoonish robotic eyes affixed to the front of it. During the experiment, participants were asked to guess whether the vehicle intended to stop or not, judging by the direction of its mechanical eyes. Since it was deemed too dangerous to carry out this study in real life, participants were asked to take part in a virtual reality survey. Nine women and nine men were selected, and were asked to decide within three seconds whether or not they would cross the road in front of the Gazing Car depending on which way it was looking.
The eyes proved to be effective in helping the participants decide when it was safe to cross the road, and the study also witnessed a few interesting secondary results. The male participants were more likely to make dangerous decisions, but the errors were reduced with the vehicle’s mechanical gaze. The female participants were more cautious about their decisions, electing to stop even when the vehicle was planning on stopping anyway. The mechanical gaze also helped eliminate their errors.
However, the some participants found the mechanical eyes to appear creepy or scary, others found them cute.’
“In the future, it would be better to have a professional product designer find the best design, but it would probably still be difficult to satisfy everybody,” said Project Lecturer Chia-Ming Chang, a member of the research team. “I personally like it. It is kind of cute.”
GM’s autonomous vehicle arm, Cruise, has not implemented a mechanical eye system for its vehicles, but it has named its prototype EVs. For example, one Chevy Bolt EVÂ is named Poppy. Personification of autonomous vehicles could very well smooth their path forward and make things safer for pedestrians and occupants, although a recent study suggests that true autonomy may never actually be possible.
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Comments
Why don’t they attach some mouse ears to the a-pillar and a tail on the rear as well?
I’d walk before I drive anything close to that! That belongs in Disney along with the other weird things.
It won’t help. Pedestrians and drivers would staring down at their phones.
The auto industry just keeps getting worse and worse, lol.
truth the 1955ies is not here anymore
world is even more ridiculous 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk 🤣 🤣 🤣 ok in Pixar cars but
Helps with electric powered vehicles because they are “silent” killers!! Make no sound coming at you.
Why not put boobs on the front and have a sensual moaning sound. Get people too look up from phones and pay attention.
right kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
While the appearance of this vehicle and those huge “eyes” bugging at you needs some aesthetic work – there’s some real behavioral stuff here. I have been riding a motorcycle for my entire [long] life. One of the habits that has kept me alive all these years is watching where the driver turning in front of me at an intersection, coming out of their driveway, etc. is looking. Cause, if they’re not looking at me – there’s a good chance they don’t see me and are about to nail it.
It appears the vast majority of people here never took a defensive driving class.
Those are fugly, I’d rather walk or bike.
Ok…. Thats just creepy. Ummmmm we already have this…. Forktrucks have light showing where theyre going. Way, way less disturbing
How about pedestrian training and licensing for foreigners before allowing them to walk in urban areas. Somehow walking out into oncoming traffic is the vehicle’s fault so we must spend thousands of dollars on a pair of ridiculous looking eyeballs for our vehicles? If you’ve been hit while walking out into oncoming traffic call Farah & Farah and let us settle that injury case for you.
Haha Japanese people talking about eyes 👀 😳