A VR study with a pedestrian, a driver, and an AV passenger together shows that even simple autonomous-vehicle behaviors (efficient vs. prosocial) reshape multi-party crossing negotiations and trust.

Abstract

This paper presents a virtual reality (VR) study that examines how multiple road users jointly interact with an autonomous vehicle (AV) in complex traffic scenarios. Moving beyond dyadic studies (e.g., AV-pedestrian or AV-passenger), our multi-user setup simulates ambiguous all-way stop intersections involving a pedestrian, a human driver in a conventional vehicle, and a passenger in an AV, all interacting simultaneously with the AV. We investigated how users perceive and respond to two distinct types of AV behaviors: an efficient AV that proceeds as soon as it is safe to do so, and a prosocial AV that yields to others before entering the intersection. Sixteen groups of three participants (N=48) took part in the study, with each group interacting with a single AV type across four ambiguous traffic scenarios. Our findings show that even simple AV behavior logics can meaningfully shape crossing negotiation dynamics and highlight how trust and perception can vary across different user roles. We conclude by discussing how our methods and insights can inform the research and design of AV interactions in complex multi-agent traffic environments.