Glasgow study explores cyclist-AV interactions

In a paper due to be presented in Germany next week, the Glasgow team of human-computer interaction specialists describe how they studied the many ways drivers and cyclists directly and indirectly communicate with each other on the road. For autonomous vehicles (AVs) to work safely in human traffic, they must first understand these often-subtle human interactions, and then be able to act appropriately according to the situation.

“Cars and bikes share the same spaces on the roads, which can be dangerous – between 2015 and 2020, 84 per cent of fatal bike accidents involved a motor vehicle, and there were more than 11,000 collisions,” said research lead Professor Stephen Brewster, from the Glasgow University’s School of Computing Science. “There has been a lot of research in recent years on building safety features into autonomous vehicles to help keep pedestrians safe, but comparatively little on how AVs can safely share the road with cyclists.