Revolutionizing pedestrian safety and urban transportation using VR and digital twins
A demonstration of the Virtual Immersive Reality Environment (VIRE) platform built by professor Bilal Farooq at his lab, The Laboratory of Innovations in Transportation (LiTrans).
Most pedestrian fatalities in Canada happen on urban roads, according to Transport Canada. As city streets become more crowded with vehicles – and soon, automated cars – an understanding of human travel behaviour is essential to make urban spaces safer.
Introducing the Virtual Immersive Reality Environment (VIRE)
Bilal Farooq, the Canada Research Chair in Disruptive Transportation and Services at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), is reimagining urban transportation with innovative research. His team uses the Virtual Immersive Reality Environment (VIRE) platform paired with digital twin technology to create computer-generated simulations of test environments that mirror physical reality in real time. Developed by civil engineering professor Farooq in his lab, The Laboratory of Innovations in Transportation (LiTrans), VIRE allows for safe, immersive studies of urban transportation challenges by simulating pedestrian, cycling and driving interactions simultaneously.
“We have used VIRE to study a wide range of issues, including distracted pedestrians, interactions between pedestrians and automated vehicles, pedestrian stress and social conformity,” said professor Farooq.
Measuring pedestrian stress to improve pedestrian safety
Pedestrian safety is a priority for cities. Statistics Canada data shows that mid-block areas, which often lack crosswalks or medians, are the second most common sites for pedestrian fatalities. Professor Farooq’s team studies how making changes to streets in these high-risk mid-block areas can affect pedestrians’ crossing decisions. In the immersive VIRE experiments, participants wear sensors to track their stress responses through sweat gland activity as they cross the virtual two-way street.
“Our experiments revealed that the presence of a street median served as a refuge for the pedestrians, significantly reducing stress levels by providing a safe midpoint during the crossing,” said professor Farooq.
The findings from this research offer urban planners and policymakers a practical tool to assess how street design can make crossings safer and less stressful.
Building pedestrian trust in automated vehicles
As automated vehicles (AVs) become more common, building public trust in them will be crucial for their acceptance and ensuring pedestrian safety. AVs can utilize a technology called External Human-Machine Interface (eHMI) to communicate with other road users, such as pedestrians and drivers. Visual symbols similar to those commonly seen at traffic lights, including green walking and red stop symbols, are displayed on the exteriors of AVs where other road users can easily see them.
Professor Farooq employs the VIRE environment to measure pedestrians’ stress levels while they interact with and respond to these cues. The collected data is used to train AV models and help pedestrians understand AVs' actions through the eHMI symbols, particularly in complex situations like road crossings.
“Integrating pedestrian safety measures that account for automated vehicles and varying demographics in the general design of urban settings would greatly benefit urban planners and policymakers in designing safer and more inclusive environments,” said professor Farooq.
Automated vehicles can use a technology called External Human-Machine Interface (eHMI) to communicate with other road users, such as pedestrians and drivers.
