Effects of Non-Verbal Communication by In-Vehicle Robots on Passengers during Automated Driving

Recently., automated driving technologies are being researched and developed all over the world. However., many people still feel worried about safety and comfortably for an autonomous vehicle. As one of the reasons., a passenger is difficult to predict the behavior of autonomous system. In this study., we use a humanoid robot as an interface to bridge the communication between a passenger and an autonomous vehicle. A humanoid robot takes driving behavior like a human driver in a car to urge the prediction of the behavior of system to passenger. We have investigated that the robot motions help passenger's prediction of the autonomous vehicle behaviors using a driving simulator and the actual robot. Through the experiments., we discuss the relationship between the motion timing of the humanoid robot and the autonomous vehicle behaviors. As a result., we show that the robot motions are effective for urging the prediction of the behavior of the system to passengers.