NBC’s Adam Tuss got a surprise yesterday when he chased down what he thought was a story about a driverless car. Turns out he was right – but only partially.
The “car seat costume” is part of a study currently being conducted by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute in Arlington County, intended to “investigat[e] the potential need for additional exterior signals on automated vehicles.” If autonomous vehicles become common, there will be a transition phase in which people will need to get used to seeing them on the road. For now, as Tuss shows, they’re objects of curiosity.
“Research projects such as this (e.g., studying human behavior in the presence of new technology in the real world) are extremely valuable to policy makers and vehicle manufacturers,” Virginia Tech wrote in its explanation of the study’s value.
