Communication between road users and the influence of increased car automation

Abstract

For a smooth, safe and comfortable cooperation of all actors in traffic good communication is essential. In view of the progressing automation in traffic the impacts on communication have to be considered. This paper puts a special focus on car automation's impact on the communication between road users including interaction between highly automated vehicles and vulnerable road users (VRUs). The main research objective was to develop relevant assumptions concerning changing conditions of communication. To reach this objective, interviews with experts were carried out. The results show that various developments between the two poles - (1) implementation controlled by certain societal strategies or (2) implementation that just takes its course - are considered possible. Enhanced automation could lead to the decrease in the use of interpersonal communication while the use of digital communication gains the upper hand. Such a development, on the one hand is seen as a chance for the improvement of traffic safety and efficiency. On the other hand, interviewed experts also identify risks such as misunderstandings between VRUs and automated cars, with fatal outcomes, or reductions in traffic flow. This is expected to be the case especially during the transition phase where vehicles with different degrees of automation are on the road and where many road users outside vehicles move about, e.g. in densely inhabited areas, where ~70% of the citizens in industrial countries live nowadays.