Eye pod: Jaguar Land Rover and Aurrigo put virtual eyes on autonomous cars

Virtual eyes on the front of autonomous cars could help pedestrians adjust to and trust the vehicles, two companies have said.

Jaguar Land Rover and RDM Group’s Aurrigo, which is currently trialling its self-driving Pod Zeroes in Coventry, are testing the hypothesis to understand how humans will react to autonomous cars.

Eyes devised by JLR’s future mobility division have been fitted to the front of pods. As pedestrians cross the road in the fabricated street scene, the pod ‘looks’ directly at them, showing it has identified them and intends to take avoiding action.

Engineers and psychologists are recording trust levels in the pedestrian before and after, finding out if the eyes generate sufficient confidence that the car will stop.

“Safety is at the heart of our autonomous technology,” said Aurrigo's CEO David Keene. “The valuable information will be used as part of the UK Autodrive programme and will also shape future developments in how we bring self-driving vehicles on to the pavements, streets and roads of the UK and overseas.” 

Pete Bennett, future mobility research manager at JLR, said: “It’s second nature to glance at the driver of the approaching vehicle before stepping into the road. Understanding how this translates in tomorrow’s more automated world is important.

 “We want to know if it is beneficial to provide humans with information about a vehicle’s intentions or whether simply letting a pedestrian know it has been recognised is enough to improve confidence.”

The trials are part of a wider study exploring how future connected and autonomous vehicles can replicate human behaviour and reactions when driving. As part of the research, more than 500 test subjects have been studied interacting with the self-driving Aurrigo pods.

Content published by Professional Engineering does not necessarily represent the views of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.