Evaluating Highly Automated Trucks as Signaling Lights

Automated vehicles will change the trucking industry as human drivers become more absent. In crossing scenarios, external communication concepts are already evaluated to resolve potential issues. However, automated delivery poses unique communication problems. One specific situation is the delivery to the curb with the truck remaining partially on the street, blocking sidewalks. Here, pedestrians have to walk past the vehicle with reduced sight, resulting in safety issues. To address this, we conducted a literature survey revealing the lack of addressing external communication of automated vehicles in situations other than crossings. Afterwards, a study in Virtual Reality (N=20) revealed the potential of such communication. While the visualization (e.g., arrows or text) of whether it is safe to walk past the truck only played a minor part, the information of being able to safely walk past was highly appreciated. This shows that external communication concepts carry great potential besides simple crossing scenarios.