Abschlussarbeiten in der Verkehrspsychologie

Background

This year, a law was passed in the Bundestag, which is supposed to make "autonomous driving" possible in Germany. The development of such vehicles poses new challenges not only for engineers and computer scientists, but also for everyone who might encounter such a car on the road. The introduction of automated vehicles will change the way road users communicate and interact with each other. As the role of the driver changes (no longer existing or no longer attentive), forms of communication with non-motorized road users, such as eye contact or gestures, are eliminated. Research to replace such communication is increasingly taking place (e.g. external Human Machine Interfaces, eHMI), but there are also approaches to let the interaction be further determined by the driving dynamics (braking, accelerating, ...). Such a so-called implicit dynamic communication could also improve the subjective safety perception of pedestrians and cyclists without suffering from the disadvantages of eHMIs. An improvement of the traffic climate could also be possible. Within a project funded by the BMVI, a field study will take place in Munich in summer 2022. This will involve partially automated vehicles driving through an intersection, at which vulnerable road users will be observed via camera and protocol and interviewed following interactions with the vehicle. The aim is to compare objective safety measures of the interaction with the subjective experience of other road users.

Task

The aim of the thesis is to develop a research question on the basis of a literature research in order to be able to investigate this question within the field observations. The main topics of communication & interaction as well as objective & subjective safety measures form a framework. It would be possible, for example, to focus on either bicyclists or pedestrians.

The research assistants (e.g. supervisors) and student assistants help with the design and implementation of the experiment, because the study can be carried out within the framework of a third-party funded project.

Further info:

• Within the scope of the thesis, parallel employment as a student or research assistant is possible.
• This thesis is offered for students of psychology, traffic engineering and traffic economics to work on from March/April onwards.
• Start possible from 09/2022

If you are interested or have any questions, please contact Marie Kühn.

Contact

Marie Kühn, M.Sc. Team                                                                                                                                                                                                                    +49 351 463 36704                                                                                                                

This year, a law was passed in the Bundestag that is supposed to make "autonomous driving" possible in Germany. The development of such vehicles poses new challenges not only for engineers and computer scientists, but also for everyone who might encounter such a car on the road. The introduction of automated vehicles will change the way road users communicate and interact with each other. As the role of the driver changes (no longer existing or no longer attentive), forms of communication with non-motorized road users, such as eye contact or gestures, are eliminated. Research to replace such communication is increasingly taking place (e.g. external Human Machine Interfaces, eHMI), but there are also approaches to let the interaction be further determined by the driving dynamics (braking, accelerating, ...). Such a so-called implicit dynamic communication could also improve the subjective safety perception of pedestrians and cyclists without suffering from the disadvantages of eHMIs. An improvement of the traffic climate would also be conceivable. While braking as a means of communication for pedestrians has been widely studied in simpler contexts, there are still few studies on the extent to which these results can be transferred to more complex situations and how cyclists could benefit from the use of implicit communication.

This is being researched within a project (TEMPUS) and there are some exciting topics for final theses (bachelor and master theses) if interest has been aroused in this field. For example, a simulated environment for a laboratory study on the PC would be available, which could be filled with your own study design. A laboratory study focusing on cyclists and their communication is conceivable.

Task

The aim of the thesis is to develop a research question based on a literature review in order to investigate it within a laboratory or online study. The main topics of implicit communication and interaction between vulnerable road users and automated vehicles with regard to objective and subjective safety aspects form a framework.

The scientific staff (including supervisors) will assist in the design and implementation of the experiment.

Other:

• This thesis is offered for processing preferably from September 2022 for undergraduate, diploma, bachelor and master theses in the fields of psychology, traffic engineering and traffic economics.

If you are interested or have any questions, please contact Marie Kühn.

Contact

Marie Kühn, M.Sc.

Tel. +49 351 463-36704

anna_marie.kuehn@tu-dresden.de

Room: POT 115

Die Sicherheit von Kindern auf ihren täglichen Schul- und Freizeitwegen ist ein gesellschaftliches Anliegen.  Die Empfehlung für oder gegen einen bestimmten Weg treffen Eltern häufig anhand von Sicherheit, Wegelänge oder Komfort. Grundschulen sind angehalten einen Schulwegeplan mit dem zu empfehlenden Schulweg zu erstellen und für die Mobilitätserziehung heranzuziehen. In der vorgeschlagenen Abschlussarbeit soll untersucht werden, anhand welcher Kriterien Kinder ihren Schulweg beschreiben, bewerten und ggf. auswählen.

Die Arbeit kann methodenorientiert (Erstellung des Kriterienrahmens für die Bewertung aus Kindersicht) oder anwendungsorientiert gestaltet werden:  Dabei sollte dann die Infrastruktur der betrachteten Wege und/ oder der Stand der Entwicklung der Kompetenzen der Kinder in die Betrachtung mit einbezogen werden.

Als Untersuchungsmethoden sollten Befragungen und Beobachtungen zum Einsatz kommen.

Die Thematik ist für verschiedene Studiengänge und Abschlussarbeiten (Diplom Verkehrsingenieurwesen, Bachelor- oder Master Psychologie) anpassbar und kann in verschiedene Richtungen eingegrenzt werden.

Es können mehrere Themen vergeben werden.

Betreuung: Dr. Susann Richter ()

Ansprechpartner: Dr. Jens Schade

Das Verkehrsklima lässt sich als die gemeinsam geteilte Wahrnehmung über die Art und Weise des zwischenmenschlichen Umgangs und der sozialen Interaktion zwischen Personen während der Teilnahme am Straßenverkehr beschreiben. Dabei lassen sich anhand von prosozialen (altruistischen), egoistischen und aggressiven Verhaltensformen Grundtypen in dieser sozialen Interaktion differenzieren, die als Lösungsansätze für die durch Ressourcenknappheit bedingten Zielkonflikte der Verkehrsteilnehmer(-gruppen) dienen.

Bisherige Untersuchungen zum Verkehrsklima beziehen sich meist auf Pkw-Fahrer und die Wahrnehmung untereinander und berücksichtigen andere Verkehrsteilnehmergruppen wie Fußgänger und Radfahrer nicht. In dieser Arbeit soll explizit die Wahrnehmung des Umgangs zwischen den verschiedenen Gruppen betrachtet werden. Dazu soll eine bestehende Skala zur Messung des Verkehrsklimas (Schade, Rößger, Schlag, Follmer & Eggs, in Druck) auf diese erweiterte Fragestellung angepasst und Daten erhoben werden.