Personalised personas for VRUs
Alexandra van Dijk (2024) coached by Pavlo Bazilinskyy
Description
A pedestrian is approaching an intersection without traffic lights. The pedestrian wants to cross the road, but a vehicle is approaching at a relatively high speed. The pedestrian tries to make eye contact with the driver, however there is no human driver in the car. It is an automated vehicle. How should we design for communication of AVs to preserve the feeling of safety of vulnerable road users like pedestrians? Three designs were created in this research; a common light-based eHMI design, a smartwatch design containing a persona guiding the user through traffic and a smartwatch containing a personalised persona (based on age) design. These designs were used to investigate how safe pedestrians feel to cross the road. Results showed that common eHMIs (light-based) already provide a safe feeling for participants. However, when designing for more complex scenarios, a personalisation factor should be added to contribute to the feeling of safety. This could be achieved through using a persona, but personal targeting is key in future designs. When using a persona, users should be able to construct them themselves based on as many factors as possible.
