It sounds goofy, but this strikes me as really clever. Compared to almost anything else with self driving cars adding a few indicators to outwardly show what it's going to do next (for pedestrians and other drivers) is a huge win.<p>There is a fair amount of waving for someone else to go first at a turn, seeing if a driver is distracted (on their phone) at a stop, making eye contact while using a cross walk etc that gets lost with SDVs.<p>Also, I really feel like they stole this idea from Raid 2 <a href="https://youtu.be/ErrRhXItBWc?t=118" rel="nofollow">https://youtu.be/ErrRhXItBWc?t=118</a>
People in the comments are making references to prank videos and film techniques, but this type of research study has also been conducted multiples times in the last few years by institutions such as Stanford [1], UC San Diego [2], Virginia Tech [3], and more.<p>[1] <a href="http://wendyju.com/publications/RO-MAN2016-Rothenbucher.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://wendyju.com/publications/RO-MAN2016-Rothenbucher.pdf</a><p>[2] <a href="http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/science/sd-me-ghostdriver-ucsd-20170403-story.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/science/sd-me-ghost...</a><p>[3] <a href="https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2017/08/heres-the-real-science-behind-that-fake-driverless-car/536268/" rel="nofollow">https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2017/08/heres-the-rea...</a>
A reporter apparently tried to talk to one of the drivers and they refused to acknowledge his presence: <a href="https://twitter.com/AdamTuss/status/894627339891609602" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/AdamTuss/status/894627339891609602</a>
"they just needed people to believe wholeheartedly they were using one."<p>Don't they mean "seeing one" instead of "using one"? Or am I missing something?<p>"fill in gaps where we currently communicate via subtle gestures, eye contact and other less obvious mechanisms."<p>This also struck me as odd - do pedestrians and other drivers really make "eye contact" with drivers to gauge their intention? I guess it's possible, but in many cases you can't see the driver's head, let alone eyes.
It's interesting, everybody is thinking about how this was used for pranks and films, but I immediately thought of the much more sinister attempts to flee east Germany. I was unable to find a photo, but I remember seeing a car that was modified so a person could be sewn into the seat in a Berlin Museum.
This is really quite common. I read an article about a car in Pittsburgh where a driver was similarly disguised in order to research specifically other peoples reactions to driverless vehicles on the road. In the article I read, I believe it occurred in Pittsburgh, PA and the researcher was affiliated with a university (maybe Carnegie Melon?). The reporter was able to speak with the costumed researcher just briefly, but got a more substantive statement from the org doing the research.
Seems like they need to turn the cameras inward too (or has this been done already?); they can start observing "good" drivers providing signs to other drivers to then learn how to communicate a driving decision better.
Just as in Knight Rider! <a href="https://knightriderhistorians.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-fate-of-original-hero-car-revealed.html" rel="nofollow">https://knightriderhistorians.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-fate-...</a>
Really interesting study, would have liked to see some preliminary or even anecdotal findings discussed in the article.<p>I've seen some Youtubers pranking drive-through windows in the same way and they're pretty funny at the very least.
The setup reminds me of a pretty weird story called "The Human Chair": <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Human_Chair" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Human_Chair</a>
I have been in a situation when I was mid-crosswalk when an idiot came screaming round a long shallow corner too fast (fast enough to have the white-line between his wheels).<p>I had a 50/50 choice. Keep going or run back. In the 3 or so seconds I had we made eye contact and I saw him return his eyes to my front (i.e. he was trying to get back on to his side of the road) so I moved backwards.<p>Not sure what I would have done if it were a self-driving car and unable to do the visual communication (Although the entire point might be moot since a self-driver wouldn't be in that situation)
This is what it looked like on the news:
<a href="http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Why-a-Half-Car-Seat-Half-Man-Was-on-the-Road_Washington-DC-439081263.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Why-a-Half-Car-Seat-...</a>
Looks like they put a cylon indicator on it? Not terrifying at all...<p>As for devising new signals which other drivers are supposed to watch to understand what the car plans to do, I'd say we need a lot more research to understand if this actually helps or just distracts.
So they re-did a prank from 2013 but for science [1]<p>[1] <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVrJ8DxECbg" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVrJ8DxECbg</a>
a programmer disguised as HM Aeron chair ... probably makes for more serene looking open floor office, and also minimizes the chances of the others bugging you with various stuff.
Reminds me of the magician who goes through drive throughs in that costume.<p>I like the idea of an indicator showing what the car is 'doing'.
I can't wait until somebody patents "signaling pedestrians" and we all have to deal with brand-specific signaling mechanisms.<p>Thank Zod QWERTY was invented so long ago.<p>/cynicism
Off topic, but man do I hate looping gifs in my articles. It's so incredibly distracting.<p>Sure, play it once, maybe even twice. But an endless loop? That's just unnecessary.
Leslie Nielsen did this forever ago: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqJ3lx43lMg" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqJ3lx43lMg</a>
The conspiracy theorist in me figures this kind of research will be used by companies that are falling behind in the self driving car race (no pun intended) to get governments to regulate against self driving cars.