Land Rover develops virtual eyes to get others to trust driverless cars

THE SUV builder has devised an odd way to build trust around its new automated technology.

Land Rover’s virtual eye pod is designed to build trust of autonomous vehicles.

If the eyes are the window to the soul, what would they reveal about a robot?

British luxury car maker Land Rover is hoping gazing into the eyes of a driverless cars will build trust in autonomous vehicles.

Research conducted by the automaker has found that 63 per cent of people mistrust the concept of driverless cars and worry about how safe it would be to cross the road with autonomous vehicles about.

To counteract this fear the car maker has added “virtual eyes” to its driverless pod concepts, but the giant eyes may be more off-putting than confidence building.

The future transport solution would make eye-contact with pedestrians looking to cross the road.

This acknowledgment of your position and desire to cross the road is a signal to the pedestrian that it is safe to cross, similar to how drivers and pedestrians currently interact.

Do you see what I see: Land Rover hopes ‘virtual eyes’ will help build trust with driverless vehicles.

“It’s second-nature to glance at the driver of the approaching vehicle before stepping into the road,” says Pete Bennett, Future Mobility Research Manager at Jaguar Land Rover. “Understanding how this translates in tomorrow’s more automated world is important.

“We want to know if it is beneficial to provide humans with information about a vehicle’s intentions or whether simply letting a pedestrian know it has been recognised is enough to improve confidence.”

Trust is being billed as one of the biggest issues with driverless cars. Ford recently said that for autonomous vehicles to become a reality they must first earn the trust of other road users.

Seeing is believing: The ‘virtual eyes’ will look at pedestrians preparing to cross the road.

The American car maker identified that its driverless cars need to act like the other cars on the road and need to adjust for different driving habits for each particular market. The driverless cars need to be predictable in their actions. Ford is looking to attain this level of trust by developing the required software and hardware with extensive test drives in multiple cities.

READ: Why self driving cars won’t work

However, not all car company executives are so convinced that fully autonomous cars will become a reality.

Earlier this year a BMW board member, Ian Robertson, voiced his doubt about whether driverless cars could ever be trusted to roam the streets to UK publication Autocar.

“Imagine a scenario where the car has to decide between hitting one person or the other — to choose whether to cause this death or that death,” says Robertson.

“What’s it going to do? Access the diary of one and ascertain they are terminally ill and so should be hit? I don’t think that situation will ever be allowed.

“This ethical dilemma could arise in a countless number of situations — whether a car should plunge off a ravine or swerve into a group of pedestrians, for example.”