Ghost Driver Study

Researchers at the University of Nottingham disguised drivers as car seats ("ghost drivers") to study how pedestrians interacted with driverless cars. In particular, they wanted to know what visual cues people would look for when deciding if it was safe to cross the road in front of a driverless car.

I haven't yet seen a driverless car on the road, but when I do I'll now be wondering if it actually has a ghost driver behind the wheel.

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Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over forty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. Contact Us

Posted By: Alex - Sat Jun 17, 2023
Category: Science | Cars

Comments

Interesting. I would like to see how pedestrians interact with a driverless vehicle that doesn't have the LED bumber, especially if the vehicle behaves like other vehicles on the street i.e. slowly crawls at pedestrians then accelerates as soon as the last person is out of its range, blocks the way when attempting to turn right, crosses at the yellow light, stops in the middle of the pedestrian crossing, double parks, etc.

Posted by Yudith on 06/17/23 at 08:19 AM

What scares me even more, as a pedestrian and cyclist, is the possibility of a person sitting behind the wheel in a driverless car but not actually paying any attention. I rely for my survival on being able to communicate, even if only by eye, with the controllers of the Death Boxes. If that is taken away, I'm dead. I'd rather face a car where I know the driver is a machine and has no humanity.

Posted by Richard Bos on 06/25/23 at 03:28 AM

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