Feeling-of-Safety Slider: Measuring Pedestrian Willingness to Cross Roads in Field Interactions with Vehicles

Abstract

Can interactions between automated vehicles and pedestrians be evaluated in a quantifiable and standardized way? In order to answer this, we designed an input device in the form of a continuous slider that enables pedestrians to indicate their willingness to cross a road and their feeling of safety in real time in response to an approaching vehicle. In an initial field study, 71% of the participants reported that they were able to use the device naturally and indicate their feeling of safety satisfactorily. The feeling-of-safety slider can consequently be used to evaluate and benchmark interactions between pedestrians and vehicles, and compare communication interfaces for automated vehicles.