New technology for safe self-driving: using artificial intelligence to predict pedestrian behaviour and prevent accidents

Recipient of Paderborn University Research Award

A ball rolls into the road, there is a child on the pavement – which would immediately set alarm bells ringing for drivers. The result: they brake because they assume that the child will run into the road. Drivers are similarly able to guess how pedestrians will behave in other potentially dangerous situations. Self-driving vehicles, which will be increasingly dominating our streets, cannot do this. Although current technologies are able to react to critical situations, they do not have the ability to predict behaviour. A new research project is beginning at Paderborn University seeking to fill this gap and enable self-driving vehicles to identify pedestrians’ intentions before they act.