Panel Session

Toward 2020: Human Interaction with Autonomous Vehicles

Cars that are rolling out of the factories these days meet the very definition of autonomous robots. These cars observe their environment and the humans in and around it, make intelligent decisions based on sensor data and the car’s autonomous actions have actual physical impact in the real world. New model cars currently on the market have active pedestrian detection and automatic brake systems, adaptive cruise control, lane keeping, accident avoidance, driver fatigue detection, autonomous parking, autonomous steering, and more. The year 2020 is envisioned as the year where truly autonomous vehicles will join us on the road with or without a driver behind the steering wheel.

This year’s HRI will offer a panel with experts from European, Asian and US Car manufacturers and advisors. The panel will explore the future challenges concerning the introduction of autonomous cars into everyday urban traffic and the design of driver- car interaction. Specific topics for discussion will involve:

  • Facilitating the transition between vehicle autonomy and driver control
  • Driver to vehicle interaction, vehicle to vehicle interaction and vehicle to environment interaction
  • Interacting with an autonomous vehicle remotely and controlling a fleet of autonomous vehicles

Autonomous vehicles are a true integrator of robotics technology combining for instance computer vision, mechatronics, machine learning, sensor fusion, information retrieval, social computing and interaction design. Given the projection by IEEE that 75% of all vehicles will be autonomous by 2040, the panelists discuss the challenges related to Human Vehicle interaction as an inspiration to the field of Human Robot Interaction and vice versa. Thus offering an (e)merging perspective on HRI and human interaction with autonomous vehicles.

Session Chairs
Maarten Sierhuis | Nissan Research
Vanessa Evers | University of Twente

Panellists
Manfred Tscheligi | Salzburg University

Manfred Tscheligi  is professor for Human-Computer Interaction & Usability at the University of Salzburg. He holds a master’s degree in Business Informatics and a PhD in Social and Economic Sciences. Since December 2009, he also has been directing the Christian Doppler Laboratory on Contextual Interfaces at the University of Salzburg. Since August 2013 he is also Head of Business Unit Technology Experience at the Austrian Institute of Technology in Vienna.

Manfred Tscheligi has been active in the area of Interactive Systems, Human-Computer Interaction, and Usability Engineering for more than 25 years. He is active in the areas of Automotive UI Research, Contextual Experience Research as well as Human-Robot Interaction Research. Manfred Tscheligi has (co-)chaired several international conferences such as CHI2004, MobileHCI2005, ACE 2007, EuroiTV 2008, AmI2009 as well as AutomotiveUI2011. He also is member of the HRI Steering Committee.

Ulrich Bueker | Hella

Ulrich Büker, born in 1965, studied computer science and mathematics at the University of Paderborn and received his diploma in 1990. He then joined the computer vision group in Paderborn, where he got his doctoral degree in electrical engineering in 1995 and his habilitation degree (venia legendi) in January 2001, respectively. He has been working in the automotive industry for more than ten years in several positions. He is currently heading the advanced engineering department of the business division electronics at HELLA. He has authored and edited 3 books and more than 50 scientific papers mainly on computer vision topics as well as on automotive related topics.

Wendy Ju | Stanford University

Wendy Ju researches the application of physical interaction design in contexts ranging from public settings, personal automobiles, and the home environment. She is particularly interested in how implicit interactions can enable novel and natural interfaces through the intentional management of attention and initiative. She holds a MS from the MIT Media Lab, and a PhD from Stanford University.

Bernard Sendhoff | Honda

  • studied physics at Ruhr-Universität Bochum / Germany from October 1987 to November 1993
  • 1990 / 1991 studied abroad at University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom as a scholar of the DAAD (German academic exchange agency)
  • 1992 /1993 worked on his diploma thesis in a collaboration of the School of Mathematical and Physical sciences , University of Sussex, Prof. D. Bailin and the Insitute Theoretische Physik II, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Prof. K. Goecke.
  • graduated in November 1993 with a thesis in theoretical elemtary particle physics.
  • worked as a PhD. student at the Institut für Neuroinformatik, Ruhr-Universität Bochum since January 1994 in the group of Prof. W. von Seelen.
  • finished his PhD. in May 1998 with a thesis entitled Evolution of Structures – Optimization of Artificial Neural Structures for Information Processing. Gutachter Prof. Dr. W. von Seelen and Prof. Dr. C. von der Malsburg.
  • worked as a research assistent (post doc) at the Institut für Neuroinformatik, Ruhr-Universität Bochum from May 1998 to April 1999 in the SONN research group.
  • joined the Future Technology Research Division (FTR) at HONDA R&D EUROPE (Deutschland) GmbH in April 1999, still being affiliated also with the SONN research group at the Institut für Neuroinformatik, Ruhr-Universität Bochum.
  • worked as Deputy Division Manager, Chief Scientist and head of the EL-TEC research group at the Future Technology Research Division (FTR) at HONDA R&D EUROPE (Deutschland) GmbH from 2001 to 2002
  • was Chief Technology Officer at the Honda Research Institute Europe GmbH from 2003 – 2011
  • is Honorary Professor, School of Computer Science, University of Birmingham, UK since 2007
  • is Professor, Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany, since 2008
  • is President of the Honda Research Institute Europe GmbH since April 2011