PAsCAL

Enhance driver behaviour and Public Acceptance of Connected and Autonomous vehicLes

INSPIRATION

At the dawn of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAV), a number of issues are rising up when it comes to take into account the complex human-machine interactions. Whether as a car’s occupant or pedestrians, people will face new situations for which their behavioral responses are currently not well known.

Indeed, research initiatives have been mainly focused on a technology-driven approach, leading to a lack of human-behavior characterization that is nonetheless essential to ensure a sustainable implementation of this future mobility. In addition, recent studies have shown that the majority of the population appear to be reluctant to CAV. There is therefore an urge need to define, assess and analyse the driver behaviour, as well as the European public acceptance of CAV, in order to address these societal challenges.

INNOVATION

The PAsCAL project, funded by the European Commission, aims to assess the acceptance level of European citizens towards the future CAV through an interdisciplinary approach combining innovative human science and technology tools. The objective of this international project, coordinated by LIST, is to develop an unprecedent platform gathering reliable and designed specifications for every users’ profiles: from manufacturers to public authority and citizens.

To do so, LIST and its partners will capture the public’s acceptance and attitude, analyse and assess their concerns, model and simulate realistic scenarios for hand-on practices, and validate the research innovation in a number of trials in the real world.

LIST will be in charge of realistic scenarios simulation aiming to measure individual reactions with eye-tracking, biosensors, as well as behavioral analyses. LIST researchers will make use of their readily transportable low-immersive car simulator to perform the trials, and will also make it available to their partners. In parallel, they will test people’s reactions as pedestrians through a cognitive environment.

IMPACT

This innovative project will significantly contribute to the actual state-of-art, but also bring a better understanding on key psychological approaches closely linked to public acceptance of CAV, such as the locus of control concept. As a result, it will open the path to new recommendations to enhance both driver behaviour and public acceptance.

PAsCAL will enable the creation of Guide2autonomy, a unique European platform providing specifications to all the different users profiles. It will be of great interest either for CAV manufacturing as for urban planning or raising citizens awareness about this future mobility.