ADOPT: A system for Alerting Drivers to Occluded Pedestrian Traffic

TL;DR

ADOPT is a novel system that leverages parked cars to detect occluded pedestrians, predict crossing times, and alert approaching vehicles to improve pedestrian safety at crossings.

Contribution

It introduces a new approach using parked cars for pedestrian detection and safety alerts, departing from traditional vehicle-only detection methods.

Findings

Effective detection of crossing pedestrians in simulations

Successful prediction of pedestrian crossing times

Enhanced safety through vehicle alerts

Abstract

Recent statistics reveal an alarming increase in accidents involving pedestrians (especially children) crossing the street. A common philosophy of existing pedestrian detection approaches is that this task should be undertaken by the moving cars themselves. In sharp departure from this philosophy, we propose to enlist the help of cars parked along the sidewalk to detect and protect crossing pedestrians. In support of this goal, we propose ADOPT: a system for Alerting Drivers to Occluded Pedestrian Traffic. ADOPT lays the theoretical foundations of a system that uses parked cars to: (1) detect the presence of a group of crossing pedestrians - a crossing cohort; (2) predict the time the last member of the cohort takes to clear the street; (3) send alert messages to those approaching cars that may reach the crossing area while pedestrians are still in the street; and, (4) show how approaching cars can adjust their speed, given several simultaneous crossing locations. Importantly, in ADOPT all communications occur over very short distances and at very low power. Our extensive simulations using SUMO-generated pedestrian and car traffic have shown the effectiveness of ADOPT in detecting and protecting crossing pedestrians.