As part of the smart actor development theme, University of Leeds will use their Highly Immersive Kinematic Experimental Research (HIKER) Lab to explore pedestrian movements including investigating the effect of time pressure and distraction.

The HIKER lab is important for the VeriCAV project as it allows University of Leeds to better model human interactions with autonomous vehicles, and then will feed these learnings into the development of state-of-the-art smart actors to enrich the virtual test scenarios

It is the largest, ‘CAVE-based’, pedestrian simulation environment of its type in the world. The HIKER lab allows participants to interact with a variety of urban environments and vehicles in a 9 x 4 metre walking space – with a level of real-world performance that is not possible using head-mounted Virtual Reality equipment.

To find out more about the facility, visit the website here.