ROBOPOL: Social Robotics Meets Vehicular Communications for Cooperative Automated Driving

arXiv cs.RO / 5/5/2026

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Key Points

The paper argues that mixed traffic will be unavoidable on the path to full autonomy, and that pedestrians will still require safe, reliable interaction even with fully autonomous vehicle fleets.
It proposes using social robots as “moderators” between cooperative automated vehicles and vulnerable road users, rather than relying only on vehicle-to-vehicle communication.
The authors present an initial proof-of-concept where a social robot advises pedestrians during a crossing scenario involving a cooperative automated vehicle.
They outline key enablers for designing a “robot policeman” to support generic cooperative intersection management use cases.
Overall, the work presents a vision for how social robotics could integrate into future Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems to improve safety and coordination.

Abstract

On the way toward full autonomy, sharing roads between automated and autonomous vehicles in so-called mixed traffic is unavoidable. Moreover, even if all vehicles on the road were autonomous, pedestrians would still cross streets. We propose social robots as moderators between autonomous vehicles and vulnerable road users. This paper presents a first proof-of-concept integration of a social robot advising pedestrians in crossing scenarios involving a cooperative automated vehicle. We also discuss key enablers required for designing "robot policeman" in a generic use case of cooperative intersection management. Our work provides a vision of the role of social robotics in future Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems.