Jaguar Land Rover has developed a system that
projects the direction of travel onto the road ahead of self-driving vehicles,
to tell other road users what it is going to do next.
The intelligent technology beams a series of
projections onto the road to show the future intentions of the vehicle – for
example stopping and turning left or right – as part of research into how
people can develop their trust in autonomous technology. In the future the
projections could even be used to share obstacle detection and journey updates
with pedestrians.
These projections, tested on autonomous pods
developed by Coventry-based Aurrigo, feature a series of lines or bars with
adjustable spacing. The gaps shorten as the pod is preparing to brake before
fully compressing at a stop. As the pod moves off and accelerates, the spacing
between the lines extends. Upon approaching a turn, the bars fan out left or right
to indicate the direction of travel.
Trials were set up by a team of advanced
engineers, working in Jaguar Land Rover’s Future Mobility division, supported
by cognitive psychologists, after studies showed 41 percent of drivers and
pedestrians are worried about sharing the road with autonomous vehicles*.
The innovative system was tested on a
fabricated street scene at a Coventry facility with engineers recording trust
levels reported by pedestrians both with and without projections.
The trust trial programme – which also
included fitting of ‘virtual eyes’ to the intelligent pods in 2018 to see if making
eye contact improved trust in the technology** – was conducted as part of
Jaguar Land Rover’s government-supported UK Autodrive project.
“The trials are about understanding how much
information a self-driving vehicle should share with a pedestrian to gain their
trust. Just like any new technology, humans have to learn to trust it, and when
it comes to autonomous vehicles, pedestrians must have confidence they can
cross the road safely. This pioneering research is forming the basis of ongoing
development into how self-driving cars will interact with people in the
future,” commented Pete Bennett, Future Mobility Research Manager at Jaguar
Land Rover.
Miles Garner, Sales and Marketing Director at
Aurrigo, added his support: “Our autonomous pod
technology is fast becoming the market leader in ‘first and last mile’
transport solutions and this has been reinforced by a number of deals to supply
Pod Zero to customers in Singapore, Vietnam, Canada and, most recently, the US.
“The discussion about driverless vehicles is
continuing to grow in intensity and we are delighted to be working with Jaguar
Land Rover to install intelligent systems on to our pods that will project
images depicting the direction of travel.
“This is a very important exercise and will
provide crucial information on how humans interact with autonomous pods and the
feedback we get can be used to shape how we evolve our technology to ensure we
deliver solutions that are safe, accepted and deliver the mobility alternatives
we need.”
Safety remains the priority as Jaguar Land
Rover invests in self-driving technology, becoming automotive leaders in
autonomous, connected, electric and shared mobility. The trial is aligned with
the brand’s long-term strategic goals: to make cars safer, free up people’s
valuable time and improve mobility for everyone.
This commitment extends to Jaguar Land
Rover’s current models with a suite of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems
including Adaptive Cruise Control, Blind Spot Assist and Intelligent Speed Limiter
available across its range of vehicles, including the Jaguar F-PACE and Range
Rover Velar.
*https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/12/people-don-t-trust-driverless-cars-researchers-are-trying-change
**https://media.jaguarlandrover.com/en-gb/news/2018/08/jaguar-land-rovers-virtual-eyes-look-trust-self-driving-cars