Immersive In-Situ Prototyping: Influence of Real-World Context on Evaluating Future Pedestrian Interfaces in Virtual Reality

Pedestrian interfaces support people's interaction with autonomous agents in traffic scenarios. Early studies relied on computer-generated (CG) environments to evaluate pedestrian interfaces in virtual reality (VR). More recently, real-world 360-degree videos have been used as an alternative to CG environments as they support immersive and realistic experiences. This paper reports on the combined use of 360-degree videos and dynamic CG interfaces as a new approach for evaluating pedestrian interfaces, referred to as immersive in-situ prototyping. We analyse participant feedback from two case studies that used this approach for evaluating pedestrian interfaces from a drone and from an autonomous vehicle. Results show that participants considered the immersive in-situ prototypes realistic, natural, and familiar and found them to facilitate connections to real-life experiences. We describe the process for developing immersive in-situ prototypes and offer technical considerations for future studies.