Evaluating the driving comfort on urban self-luminous pavements based on human-machine interaction

Paving self-luminous roads in cities has social and environmental benefits, including relieving the pressure on urban power generation and improving energy security. Drivers perceive pavement brightness as an important indicator of driving comfort. In the current state of knowledge, a thorough association between drivers' perceptions of comfort and driving brightness has not yet been demonstrated. In four districts of Xi'an, China, 67 urban road sections were first selected for night-time pavement illuminance measurements under different light environments, and night-time pavement illuminance zoning was completed. Optical parameters (pavement reflectance ratio, retro reflectance coefficient, chromaticity coordinates, and luminous pavement brightness) of self-luminous pavements were measured in the laboratory. Further, a self-luminous simulation road model was established using the DIALux Evo software. The visual signals of the driver (pupil diameter and obstacle gaze time) were collected and evaluated for comfort according to a human-machine interactive visual event acquisition system. Based on the association between driving brightness and respondents' reported subjective perceptions in the survey, the acceptable rate, comfort level, and brightness detectable level limits were created. The results indicated that a significant visual difference between the three self-luminous roads (high, medium-high, and low illuminations) and the target obstacle exists. The comfort level, acceptability, and brightness perception levels first decreased and then increased with an increase in brightness. The results of this study will help guide the comfort evaluation of luminous pavements and further promote functional research on self-luminous pavements.