Self-Driving Cars Could Project Lines To Warn Pedestrians

New ideas under development by Jaguar Land Rover show how lines projected onto the road ahead of the car could warn pedestrians of its intended direction and speed
Self-Driving Cars Could Project Lines To Warn Pedestrians

Jaguar Land Rover has previewed a new means for autonomous cars to win autonomy-sceptics’ trust. Prototype self-driving test pods can project lines of light down onto the road to indicate both a planned direction and a vague intended speed.

When the pod is about to accelerate, five lines grow further apart and stay there until you slow down. At that point the gaps shrink back towards the pod. As for direction, the lines can fan out into a curve without losing the visible functionality of the gaps.

Self-Driving Cars Could Project Lines To Warn Pedestrians

It’s an interesting idea that should give pedestrians more reassurance that a self-driving car isn’t about to move away as they walk in front of it – or at least provide some warning if it is, much like with a petrol car’s suddenly-increased revs.

Unfortunately, it relies on people using their eyes for something other than looking at their phones, so its effectiveness might be limited in the real world. There’s also a question mark over how visible the lines would be on a bright summer’s day.

When the pod is stationary, the lines close up
When the pod is stationary, the lines close up

JLR quotes a study that found 41 per cent of drivers and those on foot are worried about sharing the road with computer-driven cars. Pete Bennett, Future Mobility Research Manager at Jaguar Land Rover, said:

“The trials are about understanding how much information a self-driving vehicle should share with a pedestrian to gain their trust. 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.”

Sponsored Posts

Comments

Zubayer Rezoan

Hmmmmmm, the potentials:

  1. Projected keyboard.
  2. Ping pong game projection. Pedestrian vs Driver.
  3. Computer projection for portable computing.
  4. Notification projection for driver.
  5. Proposal projection. Showing rose to a beautiful pedestrian. Lol.
  6. Puppy gameplay projecion. Throwing projected ball that doesn’t exist.
01/24/2019 - 10:24 |
17 | 0

7:video projection: watching youtube while stuck in traffic

01/24/2019 - 11:41 |
12 | 0
Dave 12

Looks good in the dark. How’s that going to work on a bright day?

01/24/2019 - 10:39 |
11 | 1
Blade noir

The lines are clearly Zebra crossing indication for pedestrians to go. Genius!

01/24/2019 - 10:49 |
32 | 0
Danny S

Forget the lines; that pod looks like it has the stability of a golf kart, with worse aerodynamics. I wouldn’t trust it to go faster than 40km/h!

01/24/2019 - 11:31 |
1 | 1

well it is just a development prototype for indoors testing

01/24/2019 - 12:48 |
0 | 0
lawnchair dan the lawnchair man

does it warn them of lawnchairs
I love lawnchairs

01/24/2019 - 12:37 |
5 | 0

dan

01/24/2019 - 12:37 |
2 | 0
Noah Hammerstad

Or they could, you know, use the damn signals like every other sane person.

01/24/2019 - 12:56 |
3 | 0
Twopoint0

Now they’re just trying to solve problems they created themselves.

Just ditch self driving cars, make self driving trains, that would be more useful and safer aswell.

Self driving cars will only create more problems as time goes by, it isn’t worth it in my opinion

01/24/2019 - 13:04 |
3 | 1

Didn’t mean to post the Benzo, but hey, another reason to forget about self driving cars

01/24/2019 - 13:05 |
1 | 0
Anonymous

Why are they making this? The bloody pedestrian should look off the phone and check before crossing the street!

01/24/2019 - 13:11 |
2 | 0
TheRacingGoat Mk. II 🐐🐐🐐

That is until they go off the lines and they go full-on Detroit: Become Human.

01/24/2019 - 15:01 |
1 | 0
Andrés Cely Herazo

[DELETED]

01/24/2019 - 16:44 |
0 | 0