Design and Evaluation of Attention Guidance Through Eye Gazing of “NAMIDA” Driving Agent

The driving agents considered thus far have aimed at navigating the driver’s attention while driving, for example, using interactions through linguistic conversations. Therefore, in this study, to investigate such a role in automatic driving from the perspective of nonverbal communication focusing on physicality (e.g., head movements and eye gaze), we constructed a driving agent called NAMIDA, along with its physical properties, as a research platform to investigate the role of nonverbal communication. We conducted a cognitive experiment on attention guidance, focusing on “gaze direction,” i.e., the movement of the eyes of NAMIDA. As a result, we confirmed that the attention of the participants is attracted by such eye-gaze movements of “NAMIDA,” which become a “cue” to exploring the surroundings.