Toward Governing Perception in Safety-Critical Mediated Reality on the Move

TL;DR

This paper advocates for governable Mediated Reality in safety-critical mobile AR, emphasizing user control, transparency, and accountability to enhance situation awareness and trust in dynamic environments.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of governable Mediated Reality for mobile AR in safety-critical contexts and outlines key design challenges and a research agenda.

Findings

Highlights the need for user-configurable mediation mechanisms

Identifies challenges in signaling and accountability in MR

Frames MR as a research agenda for safety-critical applications

Abstract

Wearable Augmented Reality (AR) is increasingly deployed in on-the-move contexts such as automated driving, cycling, and pedestrian navigation. To date, most systems rely on additive overlays that highlight hazards, intentions, or predictions without altering the scene itself. However, advances in head-mounted displays and computer vision now enable Diminished and Modified Reality techniques that suppress, transform, or substitute scene elements. These capabilities conceptually extend AR into Mediated Reality (MR), shifting the design space from "what to add" to "what is perceptually available." Because such mediation reshapes the evidential basis for situation awareness and trust calibration, it raises novel interaction challenges. This position paper argues that MR on the move must become governable, as users need mechanisms to configure, inspect, and understand mediation without compromising safety. Additionally, this position paper outlines design challenges related to governance granularity, epistemic signaling, and accountability, and frames MR on the move as a research agenda for governable perceptual mediation in dynamic, safety-critical environments.