💡 New publication "Human-derived deceleration: will the role of external Human-Machine Interface change if the automated vehicle yields like a human?". 🧷 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Human-derived deceleration: will the role of external Human-Machine Interface change if the automated vehicle yields like a human?

There has been extensive research on how automated vehicles (AVs) should interact with pedestrians, most of which focused on explicit communication vi…

sciencedirect.com

⚠️ New publication: "Investigation of driving safety in partial driving automation considering driving modes and drivers’ pre-drive states" by Wei Zhang, Oliver Carsten, Yee Thung Lee, Jinlei Shi, and Wei Zhang Full text: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Inspiring Young Minds at Be Curious! As part of the @universityofleeds.bsky.social’ Be Curious event, Virtuocity was delighted to welcome around 40 children and their families for an exciting day of discovery and hands‑on learning. uolds.leeds.ac.uk/news/inspiri...

Inspiring Young Minds at Be Curious - Virtuocity

📍Virtuocity, University of Leeds, UK Virtuocity in Action with the scientists and researchers of tomorrow As part of the University of Leeds’ Be Curious event, Virtuocity was delighted to welcome arou...

uolds.leeds.ac.uk

New publication "Using psychophysiological metrics for understanding drivers’ mental workload and visual attention when overtaking automated truck platoons" by Zijian Lin, Feng Chen, @ibrahimozturk.bsky.social, Natasha Merat. doi.org/10.1016/j.aa...

🚀 Be Curious @Virtuocity! This year, we’re excited to be part of the Be Curious event at the @universityofleeds.bsky.social, where we show our immersive facility with interactive demonstrations and hands‑on activities for all ages. 📅 Find out more about the event: openup.leeds.ac.uk/events/be-cu...

Be Curious: Ready to explore the future of travel?

Come and step inside Virtuocity – where you can drive a car, walk through a...

openup.leeds.ac.uk

Yesterday, we had the pleasure of hosting the Department for Transport (DfT) Senior Analyst Team at Virtuocity. It was a fantastic opportunity to showcase our ongoing work, share insights, and explore how advanced simulation and behavioural research can support evidence-based transport policy.

New publication 📢 "Crossing in the dark: Investigating the effect of vehicle kinematics and eHMI on older pedestrians’ crossing behavior in a virtual reality experiment" by Yee Mun Lee et al... doi.org/10.1016/j.js...

Wishing you all a lovely, relaxing, and healthy time with family and friends over the holidays, and all the best for 2026!

📢 Fresh off the press! “Asynchrony of directional auditory warnings and visual information in hands-on SAE level 2 automated vehicles: Analysis of driver responses” by Ali Arabian, Courtney Goodridge, and Natasha Merat OBE. 🔗 Read the full article here: doi.org/10.1371/jour...

Asynchrony of directional auditory warnings and visual information in hands-on SAE level 2 automated vehicles: Analysis of driver responses

As automated driving technology advances, the development of an efficient human-machine interface (HMI) for delivering hazard warnings becomes increasingly critical for maintaining driving safety. One...

doi.org

Last week at the National Road Safety Conference by Road Safety GB. We had a fantastic time engaging with the road safety community! A big thank you to everyone who visited us, asked questions, and engaged in meaningful discussions.

New publication: "Exploring the effects of sex category, gender roles, and gender stereotypes on one's own, women's and men's driving behaviour in Türkiye and France". We investigated the relationships between sex, gender roles, and driver behaviours across two countries. doi.org/10.1016/j.re...

It is my pleasure to share that in 2028, we will be hosting the 9th International Conference on Traffic and Transport Psychology (ICTTP9). Exciting times ahead, we can’t wait to welcome you! @markkula.bsky.social, @hfs-its-leeds.bsky.social, @envleeds.bsky.social, @universityofleeds.bsky.social

We are honoured to host Assoc. Prof. Dr. Maryam Zahabi (Director of the Human-System Interaction (HSI) Lab) from Texas A&M University, as part of her sabbatical visit to our group.

On the 4th and 5th November, we're going to be attending and exhibiting at The National Road Safety Conference, organised by Road Safety GB, at Wyboston Lakes, England.

Our new paper, "Fatigue assessment of forklift operators in a 12-hour shift system", led by Tianbo Wang, was published in WORK: A journal of Prevention, Assessment & Rehabilitation. Check the full text here: doi.org/10.1177/1051...

Fatigue assessment of forklift operators in a 12-hour shift system - Tianbo Wang, Ibrahim Öztürk, Wei Lyu, Zuojiang Ning, 2025

Background In recent years, numerous large-scale manufacturing enterprises in Northeastern China have shifted from the conventional 8-h shift model to an extend...

doi.org

🔍 I’m pleased to share our latest open-access article <Is drivers’ interaction with pedestrians affected by cognitive load and LED bands? A driving simulator study investigating performance across two age groups during different ambient lighting conditions> now published in TRF.

The 20th RS5C conference officially concluded! ✅ What a joy to co-organise with the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI). Massive thanks to the organising & scientific committees, our brilliant volunteers, and every author and 218 delegates who joined us from 37 countries 🌎

We’ve wrapped the pre- #RS5C conference Virtuocity tours and welcome reception 🎉 Huge thanks to everyone who attended today. Can’t wait to kick off the conference tomorrow! 🏵

🛴 New Publication! I’m delighted to share our new article “Exploring attitudes and behavioural intentions towards e-scooter use in Türkiye: Differences between users and non-users” with @nazliakay.bsky.social, published in the Journal of Transport Geography. 📖 Open Access: doi.org/10.1016/j.jt...

🚗✨ Next month, we’ll be presenting at the 17th International ACM Conference on Automotive User Interfaces and Interactive Vehicular Applications (AutoUI 2025). Our researchers will be sharing cutting-edge work on human factors, driver behaviour, and automotive interaction design.

🚦 Today, our team was proud to take part in the Vision Zero Conference organised by Leeds City Council at Millennium Square. 🎤 Yue Yang presented our The Road Safety Trust–funded project "Autistic Children Matter" (led by Yee Mun Lee) @envleeds.bsky.social, @universityofleeds.bsky.social

New publication 📢 "Testing the Validity of Multiparticipant Distributed Simulation for Understanding and Modeling Road User Interaction" led by Amir Hossein Kalantari together with Yi-Shin Lin, Ali Mohammadi, Natasha Merat OBE, and @markkula.bsky.social. Access: ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/111...

New publication 📢 "Effects of adopting voice assistants countermeasures on alerting drowsy drivers across age" led by Wei Zhang from Tsinghua University, together with Oliver Carsten, and Courtney Goodridge. Full text: doi.org/10.1016/j.ap...

We’re delighted to see Associate Prof. Dr. Yee Mun Lee and the Autistic Children Matter project featured in Highways Magazine! Funded by The Road Safety Trust, this pioneering research explores road crossing challenges faced by autistic children using the HIKER.

New publication <<The Path to Driving Aggression and Crash Risk: The Role of Metacognition and Anger Rumination in Anger Expression Among Chinese Drivers>> led by Chenzhao Zhai. doi.org/10.1002/ab.7...

The Path to Driving Aggression and Crash Risk: The Role of Metacognition and Anger Rumination in Anger Expression Among Chinese Drivers

Driving anger and aggressive anger expression are prevalent in China, leading to road crashes. While potential associations between metacognitive beliefs about worry and control, anger rumination, an...

doi.org

New publication: "Investigating driver responses to automated vehicles in a bottleneck scenario: The impact of lateral offset and eHMI" led by Yang Li and with Yee Mun Lee, Ruth Madigan, Armin Grunwald, Barbara Deml, & Natasha Merat. doi.org/10.1016/j.tr...

We are incredibly proud to share some fantastic news from our team! 🎉 Our Head of Group and Academic Lead for Virtuocity, Professor Natasha Merat OBE, has been awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in recognition of her outstanding services to Future Transport Systems. 🇬🇧🎖️

📢 New publication <<PIP-Net: Pedestrian Intention Prediction in the Wild>> by @azarmi.bsky.social, Mahdi Rezaei, and He Wang. Early access link: doi.org/10.1109/TITS...

We're proud to share that our brilliant PhD students will be presenting their research at the upcoming ICTTP8 - International Conference on Traffic and Transport Psychology! 🎉

🚦 Yesterday, I had the pleasure of presenting our e-SAFE (Equity, Social Determinants, Anti-social Behaviour and Future E-Mobility) project, funded by @therstrust.bsky.social, at the @pactsuk.bsky.social Road User Behaviour Working Party.