Trust in Driverless Service Mobility: Communication Methods for Pedestrian Crossing on Residential Narrow Roads

This study explored communication designs for driverless automated service vehicles (ASVs) and pedestrians' trust and perceived safety when pedestrians cross narrow roads in residential areas. Forty participants carried out VR experiments that simulated interactions between implicit (vehicle behavior) and explicit communications (text-based external human-machine interfaces (eHMI)) of two ASVs types (bus and golf cart) in residential areas. Results indicated that pedestrians were more likely to trust the bus-type ASV more when it stopped further away compared to decelerating relatively late. Pedestrians' perception of safety varied depending on the type of ASV, with the golf cart type being perceived as safer than the bus type. Further, pedestrians exhibited greater trust when the ASV did not display any messages. However, text messages indicating the ASV's status, such as "In Automated Driving," improved their perception of safety. This highlights the need for effective communication methods to enhance road user attitudes towards ASVs.