This research aims to fill this gap related to 11 million d/Deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) people in the UK (potentially benefiting 450 million worldwide). We aim to employ a user-centred design approach with our stakeholders to provide an accessible eHMI for facilitating communication between AV and DHH pedestrians.
Research Aims
In traditional vehicle-pedestrian interactions, pedestrians could communicate with the vehicle through the vehicle's implicit communication (movement, trajectory, velocity and lateral changes). However, many vehicle-pedestrian accidents are caused by failing to identify the vehicle’s intention through these cues.
In addition to implicit communication, pedestrians often rely on informal communication channels from the driver (e.g., eye contact, hand gestures, and head gestures) to assess the driver’s intention and the imminent vehicle’s action. However, these interactions would not be reliable in automated vehicles as drivers no longer control the vehicle. External Human-Machine Interface (eHMI) has been proposed to address this issue and research suggests they are reliable in improving vehicle-pedestrian interactions. However, current eHMIs have predominantly focused on the typical population, which made the majority of these eHMI concepts being not inclusive and unable to provide sufficient information to people with disabilities.
We aim to employ a user-centred design approach with our stakeholders to provide an accessible eHMI for facilitating communication between AV and DHH pedestrians. This eHMI would avoid confusion and hesitation in decision-making, prevent putting DHH individuals in dangerous situations and avoid accidents, even fatalities. Furthermore, this work aims to improve the accessibility of future transport, which is a legal obligation in many countries, including the UK (Equality Act 2010). Overall, it impacts standards and regulations, automotive manufacturers, the DHH population and the wider public.
Research Team
Dr Xu has expertise in HCI, human factors, and immersive technologies. His current research focuses on interaction design, facilitating interaction and communication between users with different capabilities and the emergent device.
Research Questions
- What accessibility-related challenges and difficulties do DHH people face with existing eHMIs for AV-pedestrian interaction?
- What are the user requirements of DHH people for designing an accessible eHMI to deal with AV-pedestrian interaction?
- Would co-designed inclusive eHMI lead to a better outcome than existing eHMIs? And How?