Designing Virtual Agent Human–Machine Interfaces Depending on the Communication and Anthropomorphism Levels in Augmented Reality

With the introduction of autonomous vehicles, pedestrians may no longer expect explicit communication from drivers. Despite the anticipated safety benefits of anthropomorphic human–machine interfaces (HMIs) for pedestrian crossings, the impact of different levels of anthropomorphism and communication on pedestrian safety remains insufficiently understood. We proposed a virtual-agent (VA) HMI that mimics driver behavior and investigated pedestrians’ preferences through augmented reality (AR) experiments. Eighteen participants made decisions about crossing after receiving cues about the vehicle’s intentions from VA HMIs. Participants preferred the "characterized" VA HMI owing to its aesthetically pleasing design and found the "eye contact + hand gesture" combination to be more easily comprehensible. We found that while the degree of anthropomorphism did not significantly affect pedestrians’ crossing decisions, more explicit communication was helpful. Our study provides empirical evidence regarding users’ experiences of HMI in AR and the effectiveness of VA HMIs that imitate driver communication modes.