Expectation-Driven Differences in Pedestrian Gap Acceptance toward Automated Vehicles

Kurzfassung

As automated vehicles (AVs) become increasingly integrated into urban traffic, understanding their interaction with pedestrians is essential. This study investigates pedestrian gap acceptance in interactions with AVs and human- driven vehicles (HVs) using a virtual reality experiment with continuous locomotion on an omnidirectional treadmill. Vehicle behavior was intentionally held identical to isolate expectation-based effects of vehicle type. The analysis focused on unregulated crossings with systematically varied time-to-arrival (TTA). Gap acceptance was primarily driven by TTA. When directly comparing AV and HV crossing opportunities within mixed trials, participants showed higher acceptance rates for gaps followed by HVs. This preference became more pronounced after repeated exposure. Subjective measures were not associated with observed behavioral differences. These findings suggest that under specific conditions, pedestrian decisions may be influenced not only by objective vehicle behavior, but also by expectations associated with vehicle type.