In Search of Social Presence: Evoking an Impression of Real Pedestrian Behavior Using Motion Capture*

Virtual Reality (VR) is commonly utilized to examine driver interactions with vulnerable road users (VRUs) in an effective and secure manner. Recent studies, however, have highlighted issues in VR simulations, particularly concerning the authenticity of state-of-the-art pedestrian agent behaviors. These inaccuracies can compromise the perceived realism of the situation, potentially leading to unrepresentative driver reactions. This paper aims to show-case enhancements in pedestrian agent models and evaluate their subsequent advantages. To this end, real pedestrian movements, captured via motion-capture technology, were compared with outputs from a contemporary pedestrian agent model within a VR driving simulator experiment. The findings underpin the advantages of using motion-captured pedestrians to enhance social presence. Additionally, participant feedback emphasized that certain elements, such as head movements, explicit gestures, and subtle cues like hesitation before entering the road, were crucial in distinguishing realistic from unrealistic agents. These insights contribute significantly to refining the focus for systematic advancements in (pedestrian) agent models in VR environments. Such improvements are pivotal in augmenting the users’ sense of presence and the behavioral accuracy of the simulations.