Be Here Now: Development and Evaluation of Scalable eHMIs to Enhance the Attention, Perception, and Safety of Inattentive Pedestrians through Targeted Communication in Complex Traffic Scenarios

Automated vehicles will soon be common in traffic, necessitating effective communication with pedestrians. eHMIs facilitate these interactions, but scalable solutions are needed to address various challenges. In urban environments, pedestrians often fail to perceive AVs’ intentions, especially when distracted by multitasking, flocking, or using gadgets. This study enhances attention, perception, and safety of inattentive pedestrians through eHMIs using multi-modal targeted communication (conditions P and N). These targeted eHMIs are evaluated against common multi-modal broadcast communication with audio and visual cues (baseline). The study examines situational awareness, intent perception, and perceived safety among pedestrians using mobile phones while crossing streets. Two targeted eHMI variants were tested: one with projection and personalized audio cues (condition P) and another with personalized mobile notifications and audio cues (condition N). A usability study with 28 participants using a mixed-methods approach shows that targeted nudging from eHMIs improves situational awareness, intent perception, and perceived safety among distracted pedestrians compared to broadcast eHMIs. Thus, targeted eHMI systems could improve pedestrian safety and reduce AV traffic time.