Validation of a virtual reality simulator with real-world observations for pedestrian safety at midblock crossings

摘要: Recent advancements of virtual reality (VR) technology have opened the door for lower cost and lower risk ways to study pedestrians’ behavior and perception of safety, offering a higher degree of data resolution and level of realism compared to previous pedestrian simulators. This research aims to address the lack of research conducted to validate pedestrian behavior within VR simulators against real-world behavior, as well as provide a framework for conducting validation analyses. In addition to comparing pedestrian crossing speeds and gap acceptance in the replica virtual environment against that of pedestrians at the real-world study location (obtained from video data), post-experiment stated preference questionnaires also asked participants about their perception of realism in the virtual environment. Chi-squared analysis showed no statistically significant differences in the gap acceptance distribution nor median accepted gap size between the real-world and VR environments. Furthermore, experiment results showed no significant difference in the means and medians of crossing speeds in the replica virtual environment and real-world location, as well as no difference in crossing speed variance. Survey results showed that subjects felt their sense of movement and risk inside the simulator were realistic and reported high levels of immersion. These findings suggest VR simulators can replicate real-world pedestrian behavior to a high degree, and thus can be a useful tool for studying pedestrian behavior in a controlled and low-risk environment.