Our vision
Our research team is committed to enhancing human wellbeing in the digital world. We seek to improve the psychological and physiological user experience in the driverless car, including at the early stages, prior to the achievement of the fully autonomous car.
Understanding the relations between the characteristics of the driver and his driving experience is potential to improve this experience. For examples, by developing features to meet the needs of specific audiences, personalizing the automated technology that goes into the car, and optimizing the set of safety systems.
Research Team
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Prof. Yair Amichai-Hamburger
Head of The Center of Internet Psychology (CIP)
Yair is a psychologist who holds a PhD from Oxford. Yair has been studying human interaction with technology for over 30 years and has demonstrated clearly through his research that our personality will determine how we use technology. His work on the driverless car is an extension of this research.
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Dr. Gail Gilboa-Freedman
Head of the double major in Economics and Entrepreneurship at IDC
Gail holds a Ph.D. from the School of Mathematical Sciences in Tel Aviv University, and graduated from the Technion with M.Sc. in applied mathematics. Over the years she has worked as a research-developer in IBM Research Lab, and as a data-scientist in Citi Innovation Lab. Her expertise is in the area of mathematical modeling, algorithm design, information theory and data science.
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Mrs. Sivan Friedman Joseph
A researcher of Consumer Behavior & Emotions
CEO & Co-Founder of "DRILL - Neuromarketing Research", a research company that operates neuro-research systems for manufacturers and retailers from leading food companies in Israel. Currently Sivan is completing her Master's degree in Social Psychology & Decision Making from IDC Herzliya.
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Dr. Yaron Sela
Founder and CEO of P-value Data Analytics
Yaron holds a PhD in clinical psychology as well as a PhD in organizational behaviour. Yaron is a social data scientist, delivering big-data analyses and research services. A post-doctoral fellow in IDC, studying in Cyberpsychology (personality and mental states in technology use), wellbeing, and effective parenting for risk behaviors of children.
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Prof. Leonid Barenboim
Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at The Open University of Israel
Leonid was a postdoctoral fellow in a joint program of the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing at UC Berkeley and I-CORE Israel at Weizman Institute. He obtained his Ph.D. in Computer Science at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Leonid's research interests include various aspects of Distributed Systems: Design, Analysis, Efficiency, Safety and Cybersecurity.
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Dr. Jonathan Giron
Principal Research Associate
Jonathan is a psychobiologist who holds a Ph.D. in Biology from Bar Ilan University. He focuses on the evaluation of human-machine interaction through physiological and neurological interfaces. He was the founder of two Virtual reality companies, one that focused on Autonomous car simulations. His expertise is in Virtual reality design, development, and evaluations as well physiological data recording processing and analysis.
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Abstract:
Road traffic accidents, congestion and their ensuing issues are of international concern. A recent technological development to alleviate this situation is the autonomic car. A driverless vehicle will transport its passengers to their destinations. User experience would be enhanced by adapting the workings of the vehicle in line with the personality of its user. An autonomic car information system preference questionnaire was designed, focusing on different components of a futuristic information system. Participants comprised 155 students. The results demonstrated two factors: willingness to share information and need for control. A regression analysis on the automatic car preferences, personality (the Big 5), gender, and age showed that openness, consciousnesses, and age were related to different preferences. The results are assessed, followed by a discussion on personality in relation to the autonomic car. -
Abstract:
In many cities traffic jams, accidents and air pollution are part of the daily reality. One of the solutions offered for this is the autonomous or driverless car. However, one of the main obstacles to the introduction of this vehicle is the fear felt by its potential users. Based on studies showing how the personality of the user promotes their online experience, we suggest that if the travel experience in an autonomous car was individualized to fit the personality of the user, people would relate to it with more confidence. We discuss a number of personality theories and assess how they may impact on people's preferences with regard to three important components of the autonomous car: information, entertainment, and work. It is our belief that designing the autonomous car around the different personality types of users and enabling them to choose the components that best fit them, may go a long way to solving the impediment of trust. Therefore, the personalization of the driverless car is expected to enhance the use and engagement of users, in addition to promoting its acceptance by other road-users. -
Abstract:
Autonomous Vehicles (AV) hold a significant promise in creating a positive disruption of transportation. However, the majority of people perceive AV with fear, anxiety and public resistance. Our study aims to examine how controllability mediates the relationships between main personality traits (sensation seeking and big five), and AV acceptance. In a cross-sectional study, we found that low desirability of control and high external driving locus of control are associated with high AV acceptance. Moreover. We found that individuals high in sensation seeking, perceive high external driving locus of control, and low desirability to control, which in turn leads to low AV acceptance. In addition, the desirability of control and external driving locus mediated the relationships between extraversion, conscientiousness and neuroticism with AV acceptance. Overall, our results support the hypothesized model and suggest that for people to trust AV they need to have some sense of controlling the vehicle.
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