Intend-Wait-Perceive-Cross: Exploring the Effects of Perceptual Limitations on Pedestrian Decision-Making

Abstract: Current research on pedestrian behavior understanding focuses on the dynamics of pedestrians and makes strong assumptions about their perceptual abilities. For instance, it is often presumed that pedestrians have omnidirectional view of the scene around them. In practice, human visual system has a number of limitations, such as restricted field of view (FoV) and range of sensing, which consequently affect decision-making and overall behavior of the pedestrians. By including explicit modeling of pedestrian perception, we can better understand its effect on their decision-making. To this end, we propose an agent-based pedestrian behavior model Intend-Wait-Perceive-Cross with three novel elements: field of vision, working memory, and scanning strategy, all motivated by findings from behavioral literature. Through extensive experimentation we investigate the effects of perceptual limitations on safe crossing decisions and demonstrate how they contribute to detectable changes in pedestrian behaviors.