Steering Towards Safety: Evaluating Signaling Gestures for an Embodied Driver Guide

We investigate the integration of embodied agents within the automotive environment to enhance driver guidance. We explore the concept through two user studies. Through a gesture elicitation study using motion capture technology, we first identified a set of whole-body gestures suitable for in-car driver assistance. We then recreated the selected gestures by acting them out and recording them as animations. The selected gestures were then evaluated and mapped to different driving-related scenarios in the second study conducted in a simulated in-car condition. The most promising gestures for an embodied in-car driving assistant were pointing towards a certain direction, showing warning signs by crossing the arms either on the chest or arms on top of the head, and performing waving gestures to alert or to grasp the driver's attention. By charting the potential signaling gestures, we aim to advance the development of more intuitive in-car guidance systems, ultimately promoting road safety.