Towards Inclusive AV Perception: Understanding Crossing Behaviour and Movement Signatures of Mobility-Impaired Pedestrians

Currently, almost 1.3 billion people worldwide, which is nearly 16% of the global population, live with a disability (World Health Organisation, 2023). Approximately 1.71 billion individuals suffer from musculoskeletal conditions, such as low back pain, osteoarthritis, fractures, or amputations, impacting their mobility (WHO, 2022). There are also an estimated 80 million individuals who require the assistance of a wheelchair to support their mobility needs (WHO, 2023). In the UK, about 24% of the total population is reported to have a disability (House of Commons Library, 2023), where mobility impairment is the most common type (Local Government Association, 2022). In a government report, about 42-71% of disabled adults aged 16–64 in England reported having difficulties in mobility, and the proportion is even higher among those aged 65 and above (Department for Transport, 2021). This group of pedestrians with mobility impairment contribute to a large portion of vulnerable road users, the investigation of whom contributes to a safer and more inclusive traffic environment. <br /> <br /> Over the past decades, many national agencies have enhanced laws and policies to improve accessibility in public infrastructure and transport systems (Venter et al., 2002; Townsley et al., 2009). However, significant research gaps remain, particularly in the context of emerging transport technologies.

<p>While the development of automated vehicles (AVs) promises to reduce traffic accidents and improve safety for vulnerable road users by decreasing human error, current research in this field has largely overlooked people with mobility impairments. Advances in AV technologies have enabled systems to infer pedestrian crossing intent through cues such as their head orientation, gait, and body posture (Kooij et al., 2014; Rasouli et al., 2018). Yet, these models are typically developed using data from non-disabled pedestrians, with little consideration for how diverse mobility profiles, including wheelchair or crutch users, may present different movement patterns or intention signalling. This lack of inclusivity gives rise to both safety risks and ethical concerns and highlights the need for research that reflects the full spectrum of pedestrian behaviours.</p> <p><strong>Research gap and objective</strong>:</p> <p>This EPSRC-DLA student project would close this research gap by building on existing findings on how pedestrian behaviour would inform AV to recognise their intent. It will extend this work to include a wider range of pedestrians with mobility impairments, investigating how their behaviours may differ across various traffic scenarios. The project will analyse both behaviour and attention allocation to identify potential compensatory strategies used by mobility-impaired individuals.</p> <p><strong>Method:</strong></p> <p>The student will conduct a literature review to understand the current state of the art in pedestrian behaviour research on how anticipatory their behaviours, such as gait and posture, are used by other drivers and AVs to signal crossing intent. The review will also cover existing studies on pedestrians with mobility impairments to identify relevant use cases and traffic scenarios to inform the design of this project. Following this, the student will make use of the previous data set from SHAPE-IT, which involved body-tracked pedestrian participants interacting with real-time drivers in an immersive distributed simulation setup. This dataset will be used to investigate the gait cues that typically inform intent recognition in current road user interactions, and to establish a baseline for comparison and inform the hypothesis to investigate for pedestrians with mobility impairments. The student can use different methods, such as an experiment in HIKER pedestrian simulator study, a questionnaire, an interview or a field observation study, involving participants with mobility impairments (e.g., wheelchair or crutch users). These studies will examine differences in crossing behaviour, gait patterns, attentional strategies, and compensatory movements. The findings will inform the development of more inclusive AV intent recognition systems, ensuring that future transport technologies are designed with the needs of all pedestrian groups in mind.</p> <p><strong>Strategy and Impact:</strong></p> <p>This project aligns closely with the research strategy and vision of the Institute for Transport Studies (ITS) and Human Factors and Safety's (HF&S) group by promoting safety and traffic efficiency. This project also features the Virtuocity facilities as its main research centre. The work will further strengthen our internationally leading position in improving user interactions with automated vehicles (AVs) and will expand our capabilities in virtual prototyping and testing by leveraging and enhancing the facilities at Virtuocity. The supervisor is actively involved in the ISO WG meeting and the BSI CAM Standards Coordination Group and has close collaborations with over 40 key international stakeholders, including OEMs. The project's output will be shared with these groups, providing opportunities directly impacting standardisation.</p>

<p>Formal applications for research degree study should be made online through the <a href="https://www.leeds.ac.uk/research-applying/doc/applying-research-degrees">University's website</a>. You will need to create a login ID with a username and PIN.</p> <p><strong>Please follow these instructions carefully or your application may not be considered.</strong></p> <ul> <li>For ‘Application type’ please select ‘Research Degrees – Research Postgraduate’.</li> <li>The admission year for this project is 2026/27 Academic Year.</li> <li>You will need to select your ‘Planned Course of Study’ from a drop-down menu. For this project, you must scroll down and select ‘<strong>EPSRC DLA Environment</strong>’. If you do not apply under this programme code, your application cannot be considered.</li> <li>Please state the funding you wish to be considered for is EPSRC Environment Doctoral Landscape Award 2026/27.</li> <li>The project start date for this project is October 2026, please use this as your Proposed Start Date of Research.</li> <li>Please state clearly in the research information section that the research degree you wish to be considered for is <strong>“Towards Inclusive AV Perception: Understanding Crossing Behaviour and Movement Signatures of Mobility-Impaired Pedestrians” and your proposed supervisor is Dr Yee Mun Lee.</strong></li> <li>You must provide the following documents in your application:</li> </ul> <ol> <li>Full transcripts of all degree study, or if in final year of study, full transcripts to date</li> <li>Personal statement outlining your interest in the project</li> <li>CV</li> </ol> <p>If English is not your first language, you must provide evidence that you meet the University's minimum English language requirements (below).</p> <p><em>As an international research-intensive university, we welcome students from all walks of life and from across the world. We foster an inclusive environment where all can flourish and prosper, and we are proud of our strong commitment to student education. Across all Faculties we are dedicated to diversifying our community and we welcome the unique contributions that individuals can bring, and particularly encourage applications from, but not limited to Black, Asian, people who belong to a minority ethnic community, people who identify as LGBT+ and people with disabilities. Applicants will always be selected based on merit and ability.</em></p>

Applicants should normally have a bachelor degree with a minimum of 2:1 (Hons) or equivalent in a scientific discipline, or a good performance in a Masters level course. The student will be required to have an engineering background with a passion for human factors or to have a psychology background with strong programming and analytical skills. Applicants who are uncertain about the entry requirements for a particular research degree are advised to contact the Postgraduate Research Admissions team prior to making an application.

The minimum English language entry requirement for research postgraduate research study is an IELTS of 6.0 overall with at least 5.5 in each component (reading, writing, listening and speaking) or equivalent. The test must be dated within two years of the start date of the course in order to be valid. Some schools and faculties have a higher requirement.

<p>One full scholarship is available in the Institute for Transport Studies for 2026/27 entry for a Home or International fee rated applicant.</p> <p><br /> This is a highly competitive EPSRC Doctoral Landscape Award Studentship offering the award of fees, together with a tax-free maintenance grant (currently £20,780 for academic session 2025/26) for 3.5 years. Training and support will also be provided.</p> <p><strong>Please note that whilst you may be successful in securing an academic offer for this project, this does not mean that you have been successful in securing an offer of funding. Funding is awarded on a competitive basis.</strong></p>

<p>For further information please contact the Postgraduate Research Admissions team: <a href="mailto: env-pgr@leeds.ac.uk">env-pgr@leeds.ac.uk</a> or<a href="https://environment.leeds.ac.uk/transport/staff/924/professor-charisma-choudhury"> D</a><a href="https://environment.leeds.ac.uk/transport/staff/950/dr-yee-mun-lee">r Yee Mun Lee</a></p> <p> </p>