Mercedes, with the light the self-driving car communicates with pedestrians

Tighten an almost empathetic relationship with self-driving cars and trust them, the actions they are about to take: Mercedes-Benz calls this process "informed trust" and to study it thoroughly uses the Cooperative Car , a self-driving S-Class equipped with a 360-degree light signaling system that anticipates to the road users, according to the animation , the actions of the car.

With the fixed light , the sedan travels in autonomous driving mode, regardless of whether it is moving or stopped; in the presence of slow flashing , the system indicates that the vehicle is about to brake; a quick flash, finally, indicates that the car is about to leave. Not only that: other active lighting modes have been implemented outside the Cooperative Car: light-colored turquoise strips on the windscreen, on the radiator grille, in the headlights, in the exterior rear-view mirrors and in the lower part of the windows indicate that the mode is active autonomous running, thus signaling to pedestrians and other road users that the car is traveling independently.

The choice of blue light is the result of several studies on lights made by Mercedes-Benz in Sindelfingen and at the Test and Technology Center in Immendingen. Here, the pedestrian reactions were analyzed in the presence of autonomous vehicles with different signaling systems in the various traffic situations, and it was found that the light signaling (the majority of the participants in the studies preferred the turquoise) represents a decisive factor , both for the purpose of recognizing vehicles with autonomous driving, both as regards the feeling of safety on the part of pedestrians.

But how do users make sure they have been recognized by the autonomous car? The car is equipped with small lines of light spots on the roof , which alert pedestrians to cyclists whose trajectory coincides with that of the car. It establishes, therefore, a sort of visual contact between pedestrian and car , replacing in fact what is usually established between pedestrian and driver. A similar idea is being tested in the United Kingdom by the Jaguar Land Rover Group as part of the UK Autodrive program Jaguar Land Rover: the autonomous car will talk with pedestrians through the headlights .