Analysis of the Effect of Human-Machine Co-Driving Vehicle on Pedestrian Crossing Speed at Uncontrolled Mid-Block Road Sections: A VR-Based Case Study

The current study investigates the effects of speed and time headway of human-machine co-driving vehicles on pedestrian crossing speed at uncontrolled mid-block road sections. A VR-based simulation study is conducted to study pedestrian crossing behaviour when facing human-machine co-driving vehicles. A total of 30 college students are recruited, and each participant is required to complete 5 street-crossing simulator trials facing human-machine co-driving vehicles with varying time headway levels and speeds. The correlations and differences between demographic information, time headway, vehicle speed, and pedestrian crossing speed are analyzed. The results show that gender and pedestrian’s trust in human-machine co-driving vehicles are significantly correlated with pedestrian crossing speed. The pedestrian crossing speed increases with the increase in vehicle speed and decreases with the increase in vehicle time headway. In addition, the time headway has a stronger correlation with the pedestrian crossing speed than the vehicle speed. The findings will provide theoretical and methodological support for the formulation of pedestrian crossing control measures in the stage of human-machine co-driving.