Ezra's Round Table / Systems Seminar: Bilal Farooq (Ryerson) - Training socially aware AVs in urban environments: Using immersive virtual reality and interpretable machine learning

Location

Frank H. T. Rhodes Hall 253

Description

Currently, the interactions between drivers and pedestrians on urban roads are mainly in the form of a silent agreement. Eye contact between the two agents, or head orientations and body movements of the pedestrians observed by the drivers, are some of the behaviours that establish this silent agreement. Drivers then continuously try to anticipate the next actions of pedestrians based on what they see. At the same time, pedestrians decide on their behavioural choices based on what they perceive from the vehicles and drivers. To replicate these interactions in an automated urban environment, immersive virtual reality experiments are designed to collect detailed behavioural data from pedestrians. Interpretable deep learning models are then developed that can predict pedestrian walking behaviour when crossing urban roads. Multi-objective reinforcement learning is used to train the AV that can anticipate the pedestrian’s actions and react while incorporating pedestrian safety as well as passenger comfort. The findings of this study are not only useful for the manufacturers but can also help municipalities in the reassessment of current policies, practices, design, rules and regulations in order to prepare them for the mobility technologies of the future. Bio: Dr. Bilal Farooq is the Canada Research Chair in Disruptive Transportation Technologies and Services. He is currently an Associate Professor in Transportation Engineering at Ryerson University. He received a Master’s in computer science from the Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan. He worked in the software industry for several years before starting his Ph.D. in transportation engineering at the University of Toronto in 2006. From 2011-2013 he did his Post-Doctoral research at EPFL in Switzerland. From 2013-2017 he worked as an Assistant Professor at Polytechnique Montréal. He received the Early Career Researcher Awards in the provinces of Québec (2014) and Ontario (2018). Bilal is interested in understanding the network and behavioural effects of smart mobility and in developing the associated algorithms, models, and solutions.