jaguar land rover have developed a system that projects the direction of travel onto the road ahead of self-driving vehicles. the technology is intended to gain trust among pedestrians and other road users by communicating their intentions. 

jaguar land rover self-driving car projects its next move onto the road ahead

images courtesy of jaguar land rover

 

 

the intelligent system projects images onto the road ahead to inform pedestrians of the car’s direction of travel . featuring a series of lines or bars with adjustable spacing, these projections show when the vehicle is preparing to stop, pull away or turn.

 

the gaps shorten as the pod is preparing to brake before fully compressing at a stop. as the pod moves off and accelerates, the spacing between the lines extends. upon approaching a turn, the bars fan out left or right to indicate the direction of travel. jaguar say that in the future these projections could even be used to share obstacle detection and journey updates with pedestrians.

jaguar land rover self-driving car projects its next move onto the road ahead

 

 

the technology forms part of the car manufacturer’s trust trial programme – which also included the fitting of ‘virtual eyes’ to the intelligent pods in 2018 to see if making eye contact improved trust in the technology. tests have been conducted as part of jaguar land rover’s government-supported UK autodrive project.

 

‘the trials are about understanding how much information a self-driving vehicle should share with a pedestrian to gain their trust‘, says pete bennett, future mobility research manager at jaguar land rover. ‘just like any new technology, humans have to learn to trust it, and when it comes to autonomous vehicles, pedestrians must have confidence they can cross the road safely. this pioneering research is forming the basis of ongoing development into how self-driving cars will interact with people in the future.‘

 

project info

 

company: jaguar land rover

prrogramme: the trust trial programme