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GR-09 - GRAphics and INtelligent Systems - GRAINS
Immersive driving simulations for autonomous vehicles and road users
Thesis in external company
Reference persons FABRIZIO LAMBERTI
Research Groups GR-09 - GRAphics and INtelligent Systems - GRAINS
Description Autonomous vehicles are routinely advertized as the world-changing invention that will greatly impact people lives by, on the one hand, improving safety, reducing fuel consumption and decreasing urban infra-structure strains, and, on the other hand, freeing up huge amounts of time for their occupants, who will be allowed to read, consume, work, play, etc. Despite the enormous business opportunities, autonomous vehicles also come with some key issues.
One of the major issues is related to the fact that, in oder to use these technology, people will first have to trust it. Besides education and experience, a factor that is regarded as the possible keystone for constructing trust towards autonomous vehicles is represented by HMI, i.e., by the paradigms chosen to communicate with the users (the vehicle occupants, but also the other road users) and to make them interact with it.
At present, since just a few vehicles are actually available for real-world experiments (and not at the highest levels of autonomy envisaged by SAE, yet) the only way to design and validate approaches for possibly coping with issues like those above is through simulation.
The VR@POLITO has developed an immersive VR driving simulation platform that has been used, e.g.,
- to explore in-vehicle interfaces based on AR Head Up Displays for enhancing drivers'/passengers' trust;
- to study pedestrians' behavior at crosswalks with incoming vehicles mounting different types of signaling interfaces;
- to investigate the effectiveness of multi-modal interfaces in urban, suburban and highway drives with autonomous vehicles.
Several thesis works are available in this field, which can address the open problems from different perspectives, possibly in collaboration with a company.
Suggested readings:
Building Trust in Autonomous Vehicles: Role of Virtual Reality Driving Simulators in HMI Design
https://arxiv.org/abs/2007.13371
Comparing State-of-the-Art and Emerging Augmented Reality Interfaces for Autonomous Vehicle-to-Pedestrian Communication
https://arxiv.org/abs/2102.02783
See also http://grains.polito.it/work.php
Deadline 15/01/2025
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