Pedestrian's perception of the street environment with phase in smart mobility: Using an immersive virtual reality and electroencephalogram

Smart mobility is anticipated to bring about changes in the street section design, altering the interaction between vehicles and pedestrians. While studies on smart mobility mostly focused on its detection of pedestrian behavior or autonomous vehicle (AV)`s external human-machine interfaces (eHMI), research from the perception of pedestrian still appears insufficient. It is crucial to proactive planning against the reduction of vehicle road space and changes in pedestrians’ perception due to the emergence of autonomous vehicles and self-driving robots in roads. Against this backdrop, this study aims to analyze the relationship between smart mobility deployment level, resulting street section design, and pedestrian perceptions on them using immersive virtual reality (VR) experiments. Using Unity software, we first simulate 43 virtual environment scenarios considering emergence of smart mobility and potential changes in street design. Then, the recruited participants experience a randomly selected virtual environments and report their subjective perceptions of each street segment in terms of peace, convenience, and enjoyment. In addition, as an objected measurement, participants` electroencephalogram (EEG) is automatically recorded while experiencing the environments. Using the data from this experiment, this study explores how the perception of pedestrians varies depending on the street environment. We can also understand changes in the future street environment and dominant variables that determine pedestrian perception. Moreover, this study sheds light on the possibility of virtual reality equipment as a planning support system. If the VR experience is effective for planners, it can be expected that other digital twin technologies will also be effective in the fields of planning and urban design.