A shared space area is a low-speed urban area in which pedestrians, cyclists, and vehicles share the road, often relying on informal interaction rules and greatly expanding freedom of movement for pedestrians and cyclists. While shared space has the potential to improve pedestrian priority in urban areas, it presents unique challenges for pedestrian-AV interaction due to the absence of a clear right of way. The current study applied Virtual Reality (VR) experiments to investigate pedestrian-AV interaction in a shared space, with a particular focus on the impact of external human-machine interfaces (eHMIs) on pedestrian crossing behavior. Fifty-three participants took part in the VR experiment and three eHMI conditions were investigated: no eHMI, eHMI with a pedestrian sign on the windshield, and eHMI with a projected zebra crossing on the road. Data collected via VR and questionnaires were used for objective and subjective measures to understand pedestrian-AV interaction. The study revealed that the presence of eHMI had an impact on participants' gazing behavior but not on their crossing decisions. Additionally, participants had a positive user experience with the current VR setting and expressed a high level of trust and perceived safety during their interaction with the AV. These findings highlight the potential of utilizing VR to explore and understand pedestrian-AV interactions.

翻译：共享空间是一种低速城市区域，行人、自行车和车辆共享道路，通常依赖非正式互动规则，并大大扩展了行人和自行车骑手的行动自由度。尽管共享空间有潜力提升城市区域行人的优先权，但由于缺乏明确的路权，它为行人与自动驾驶车辆（AV）的互动带来了独特挑战。本研究采用虚拟现实（VR）实验，探究共享空间中行人与AV的互动，特别关注外部人机接口（eHMI）对行人过街行为的影响。53名参与者参与了VR实验，并研究了三种eHMI条件：无eHMI、挡风玻璃上带有行人标志的eHMI，以及道路上投射斑马线的eHMI。通过VR和问卷收集的数据用于客观与主观测量，以理解行人与AV的互动。研究揭示，eHMI的存在影响了参与者的注视行为，但并未影响其过街决策。此外，参与者对当前VR设置持有积极用户体验，并在与AV互动中表现出高水平的信任和感知安全性。这些发现凸显了利用VR探索和理解行人与AV互动的潜力。