It all started with the theory that giant eyes looking at self-driving cars could reduce traffic accidents. Researchers from Japanese universities in Tokyo and Kyoto conducted an experiment with autonomous golf machines by installing large manually controlled mechanical eyes.

Experiment

Scientists identified four scenarios on the way:

• with its eyes the car does not look at the pedestrian and will continue to move (a);
• the car looks at the pedestrian and plans to stop (b);
• a car without eyes is about to stop (c);
• the car without eyes will continue to move (d).

Four scenarios of the experiment / Photo: Gazing Car

With the car three meters away from him, the pedestrian had three seconds to make a decision. If he thought the car wouldn’t slow down, he had to press the “Stop” button on the earpiece.

As a result, it turns out that people cross the street more confidently when a car with big eyes approaches them. This shows that the probability of accidents involving autonomous vehicles can be reduced. Pedestrians explained their decision as follows: feeling safer and more confident when crossing the road because the car’s eyes are looking at them, not to the side, because they theoretically see an obstacle to the continuation of traffic.

Golf car used in the experiment / Photo: Gazing Car

Statistics showed that the participants made a switch error in 50.56% if the machine did not have eyes, and in 29.44% if it had eyes. At the same time, men more often exposed themselves to danger and crossed the road without a signal from the car. Even if the car braked, women were more likely to stop.

Watch a short clip about the course of the experiment: video