Investigating the Effects of Smartphone-based P2V Warning Using Driving Simulator Experiments

The pedestrian-to-vehicle (P2V) technology is expected to reduce pedestrian crashes and improve roadway safety. Utilizing the smartphone as a communication platform could make the P2V more applicable for old cars without having additional retrofits. In UCF’s previous work, the effectiveness of a general P2V design has been demonstrated. However, the influence of different P2V designs remains uncertain. This research focuses on the influence of P2V designs in different scenario conditions and uncovers some insights about potential variations between drivers, for the sake of better informing drivers about potential pedestrian risk situations in the upcoming automation era. Two aspects of P2V design, i.e., the warning display mode and warning content, were tested in six pedestrian pre-crash scenarios. The warning display mode is categorized into a gradually changed warning and an emergency warning; and the warning content is referred to whether having specific distance information as a supplement or not. Thirty- six valid participants were tested in the simulator. The results demonstrate that the gradually changed warning and considering additional information would be better in terms of safety and driving performance. In addition, the effectiveness of the P2V design can be further improved when considering the scenario and drivers’ features.

行人-车辆（Pedestrian-to-Vehicle, P2V）技术有望降低行人碰撞事故，提升道路交通安全水平。以智能手机作为通信平台，可使该P2V技术无需额外改装即可适配老旧车辆，应用场景更为广泛。在UCF过往的研究中，通用型P2V设计的有效性已得到验证。但不同P2V设计所产生的影响仍不明确。本研究聚焦于不同场景条件下P2V设计的影响，挖掘不同驾驶员间的潜在行为差异，以期在即将到来的自动驾驶时代，更好地向驾驶员预警潜在的行人风险场景。本研究在6种行人碰撞前场景中，对P2V设计的两个维度展开测试：即预警显示模式与预警内容。其中，预警显示模式分为渐进式预警与紧急预警两类；预警内容则以是否附带特定距离信息作为补充项进行区分。共有36名有效受试者参与了驾驶模拟器测试。测试结果表明，采用渐进式预警并附加额外信息的设计，在交通安全与驾驶表现方面表现更优。此外，若结合具体场景与驾驶员特征进行设计，P2V技术的有效性还可得到进一步提升。