Towards Vision Zero using Virtual Reality

Abstract: The number of individuals killed in road accidents around the world is rising. The problem of road safety is a big societal concern. Drivers have a challenge while overtaking vulnerable road users since it necessitates a well-timed, safe interaction between the vehicle, the road user, and approaching traffic. This overtaking maneuver has been studied in the past in a variety of experimental settings, including naturalistic driving, naturalistic cycling, and simulator studies. This research offers a comparison of driving behavior when utilizing various virtual reality modes. While executing a basic driving activity, test participants were exposed to mixed, virtual, and real reality utilizing a head mounted display capable of video see-through in order to collect naturalistic data sets on driver behavior. In this research, driver in the loop testing was conducted using an innovative method where each driver was put through multiple simulations at different speed limits and conditions and was asked to overtake a cyclist in the presence of an oncoming car. We used a test track to see how incoming traffic and the position of the bicycle within the lane affect overtaking as well as driver behavior. Driver behavior was measured in terms of the time taken to complete a slalom course while driving in different forms of virtual reality. Each driver was put through multiple simulations at different speed limits and conditions and was asked to overtake a cyclist in the presence of an oncoming car. The test persons involved in this study was a small group drivers and hence to determine a statistically significant result alarger number of drivers would be needed. Each simulation had been carefully designed keeping in mind 3 major factors: 1) time gap between ego vehicle and oncoming vehicle, 2) cyclist lateral position, and 3) Speed limit. Ultimately, the impacts of these factors on overtaking strategies (Flying or accelerative) were investigated. Driving while wearing a head mounted display had a noticeable influence on the time taken to complete the different courses designed. This research revealed how drivers followed a pattern and used two different overtaking tactics. In the first user test performed it is clear that drivers drove slower with the headset on compared to normal driving. It is clear that Virtual reality and Mixed reality are groundbreaking technologies and can be used as a tool to study and analyse human behavior and interaction. This new method of testing generated large amounts of naturalistic car and driver data which can be further used to understand critical scenarios better.However, this research only provided limited knowledge into driver behavior, a larger study with more number of test drivers should be performed inorder to understand human interaction deeper.