Pedestrian Trust in Automated Vehicles: Role of Traffic Signal and AV Driving Behavior
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Summary
This study investigates how pedestrian trust in automated vehicles (AVs) is influenced by AV driving behavior and the presence of traffic signals. Motivated by public skepticism regarding AV safety and the lack of non-verbal communication cues typically provided by human drivers, the authors aim to understand how implicit communication through vehicle motion and infrastructure context affects pedestrian acceptance. The research addresses a gap in existing literature, which has largely focused on driver trust or used behavioral proxies rather than measuring trust as an attitude. To test their hypotheses, the researchers conducted a human-subject study with 30 participants in an immersive virtual reality environment. Participants wore HTC Vive headsets and walked on an omni-directional treadmill, performing a task that required crossing a street six times to move objects. The study employed a within-subjects design manipulating two factors: AV driving behavior (defensive, normal, and aggressive) and crosswalk type (signalized vs. unsignalized). Defensive driving was characterized by early deceleration, while aggressive driving involved late braking or acceleration. The researchers measured both self-reported trust (attitude) and observable trusting behaviors, such as gaze direction, distance to collision, and jaywalking time. The results indicate that pedestrian trust in AVs was significantly influenced by both AV driving behavior and the presence of a traffic signal. Crucially, the impact of driving behavior on trust depended on the crosswalk type; the presence of a traffic signal moderated the negative effects of aggressive driving. At signalized crosswalks, where the right-of-way is clear, pedestrians exhibited higher trust regardless of the AV's driving style. Conversely, at unsignalized crosswalks, aggressive driving led to lower trust. The study also found strong correlations between self-reported trust and specific trusting behaviors, including pedestrian gaze patterns and proximity to the vehicle. The significance of this work lies in its demonstration that trust is an attitude distinct from, though related to, observable behaviors. The findings suggest that traffic infrastructure can serve as a higher form of authority that clarifies AV intent, thereby fostering trust even when driving behavior is ambiguous or aggressive. This implies that for AVs to gain widespread acceptance, designers must consider the contextual role of traffic signals and ensure that implicit communication through driving behavior aligns with pedestrian expectations, particularly in unsignalized environments where uncertainty is higher.
Key finding
Pedestrian trust in automated vehicles is significantly influenced by both the vehicle's driving behavior and the presence of traffic signals, with the signal moderating the effect of driving behavior on trust.
Methodology
simulator
Sample size: 30
Provenance
The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed. Discovered via author_sweep_intake on 2026-05-27.
| Stage | Outcome | Tool | Model | Prompt | Attempts | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| discover | success | author_sweep | — | — | 2 | 2026-05-27 |
| archive | success | canonical_url | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-04 |
| extract | success | cached | — | — | 3 | 2026-06-10 |
| clean | success | clean | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-04 |
| chunk | success | chunk | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-04 |
| embed | success | embed | Qwen/Qwen3-Embedding-8B | — | 1 | 2026-06-04 |
| enrich | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-27 |
| promote | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-04 |
| summarize | success | llm | qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant | summ-v5 | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
| tag | success | vector_similarity | — | — | 15 | 2026-06-11 |
| verify | success | — | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.
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