Engineers Gave a Car a Pair of Eyes to Make Future Roads Safer For Pedestrians

In one of the more unusual experiments we've seen recently, researchers attached a large pair of cartoonish googly eyes to the front of a small self-driving vehicle in order to improve pedestrian safety.

According to the researchers, a pair of peepers on the front of a vehicle could give people a better idea of what's going on. When it comes to determining the best time to cross in front of traffic, that information is useful.

The researchers say that if the car is not looking at the pedestrian, it means the car doesn't recognize the person. Pedestrians can decide if they should cross the street or not.

The research shows that this type of 'gazing car' can help pedestrians feel safer and cut down on traffic accidents.

The researchers rigged a golf buggy to look like nobody was in it. The eyes on the front of the car could be controlled by the car's artificial intelligence.

Experiments were done in virtual reality. The volunteers were told to decide whether or not to cross the road as the cart approached. Two of the four scenarios were tested when the cart was fitted with eyes.

When it was safe to cross, the researchers measured how often people hesitated to do so and how often they chose to cross. The presence of eyes led to a safer crossing experience.

There was a discrepancy in the results. Men only really benefited from the eyes in dangerous situations. The eyes signaled that it was safe to cross.

One of the researchers says the results suggested a clear difference between genders.

While age and background might have influenced the participants' reactions, we believe this is an important point, as it shows that different road users may have different behaviors and needs, that require different communication ways in our future self-driving world.

A self- driving world may look different in many ways. There are going to be changes to the behavior of both passengers inside and outside of the vehicles.

The study is an example of the type of research that needs to be done to better understand how pedestrians and cars interact before they hit the road.

If and when self-driving cars become the norm, the aim is to keep everyone safe. Scientists have more time to look at the implications of that being a long way away.

Takeo Igarashi is a computer scientist from the University of Tokyo.

We need more investigation and effort to bring safety to self-driving cars.

The research was presented at the International Conference on automotive User Interfaces and Interactive Vehicular Applications.