Self-driving cars: Will pedestrians be at ease in such a world?
What would it be like to be a pedestrian in an urban neighbourhood where most of the cars are self-driving? Actually, pretty good, suggests new research.
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New York: What would it be like to be a pedestrian in an urban neighbourhood where most of the cars are self-driving? Actually, pretty good, suggests new research.
"Autonomous vehicles have the potential to transform travel behaviour," said study author Adam Millard-Ball, Assistant Professor at University of California - Santa Cruz, US.
Secure in the knowledge that a car will yield, pedestrians merely need to act unpredictably or step into the street to force the risk-averse car to stop, said the study that looked at the prospect of urban areas where a majority of vehicles are "autonomous" or self-driving.
The research, published online in the Journal of Planning Education and Research, uses game theory to analyse the interactions between pedestrians and self-driving vehicles, with a focus on yielding at crosswalks.
Because autonomous vehicles are by design risk-averse, Millard-Ball`s model suggests that pedestrians will be able to act with impunity, and he thinks autonomous vehicles may facilitate a shift towards pedestrian-oriented urban neighbourhoods.
However, the study also suggests that the potential benefits of self-driving cars -- avoiding tedium of traffic and trauma of collisions -- may be outweighed by the drawbacks of an always play-it-safe vehicle that slows traffic for everybody.
"From the point of view of a passenger in an automated car, it would be like driving down a street filled with unaccompanied five-year-old children," Millard-Ball wrote.
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