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Article

Psychological Safety Margin-Based Dynamic Speed Management Modeling for Autonomous Vehicles at Intersections

심리적 안전 마진 기반 교차로 자율주행 동적 속도 관리 전략 개발

Hoyoon LEE1
,
Yuanming CUI2
,
Cheol OH3*
이 호윤1
,
최 원명2
,
오 철3*
1Post-master’s Researcher, Department of Highway and Transportation Research, Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology, Gyeonggi 10223, Korea
2Ph.D. Student, Department of Smart City Engineering, Hanyang University ERICA, Gyeonggi 15588, Korea
3Professor, Department of Transportation and Logistics Engineering, Hanyang University ERICA, Gyeonggi 15588, Korea
1한국건설기술연구원 도로교통연구본부 석사후연구원
2한양대학교 스마트시티공학과 박사과정
3한양대학교 교통･물류공학과 교수
*Corresponding Author
31 October 2026. pp. 762-777
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Abstract

Interactions between autonomous vehicles and the interacting human drivers in mixed traffic conditions may cause not only physical collision risk, but also psychological anxiety and workload on drivers. However, existing safety indicators have mainly focused on quantifying physical risks such as crash probability, which highlights the need for indicators that explicitly consider psychological safety. Accordingly, this study defined the concept of the Psychological Safety Margin (PSM) as a behavioral criterion for autonomous vehicles to ensure the psychological safety of interacting drivers. The speed range of the autonomous vehicle based on the PSM was classified into psychological safety zone and psychological risk zone. A dynamic speed management model was proposed to maintain vehicle operation within the psychological safety zone. In addition, the proposed model was implemented with comparative evaluation through traffic simulation. An interaction scenario between an autonomous vehicle and a human driver was designed at an unsignalized intersection in simulation. The results showed that speed control of the autonomous vehicle increased the proportion of its behavior that remained within the psychological safety zone while passing the unsignalized intersection. Furthermore, the speed deviation from the PSM at time steps corresponding to the psychological risk zone was quantified. The proposed model was found to guide the autonomous vehicle’s speed more stably toward the psychological safety zone. This study has insights in that it presents a novel indicator that incorporates the psychological safety of human drivers, along with a speed management strategy. The findings are expected to serve as a basis for supporting autonomous driving decision-making at intersections and for establishing an evaluation framework that accounts for psychological safety.

Keywords
autonomous driving
psychological safety
psychological safety margin
speed management strategy
traffic simulation

혼합교통류 환경에서 자율주행차와 상호작용 대상 인간 운전자 간 상호작용은 물리적 충돌 위험과 더불어 운전자의 심리적 불안과 부담을 유발할 수 있다. 그러나 교통안전 지표는 대체로 사고 개연성과 같은 물리적 위험의 정량화에 초점을 맞추고 있어, 심리적 안전을 고려한 안전 지표의 개발이 요구된다. 본 연구는 상호작용 대상 운전자의 심리적 안전 확보를 위한 자율주행차의 거동 기준으로서 Psychological Safety Margin(PSM)의 개념을 정의하였다. PSM을 기준으로 자율주행차의 속도 범위를 심리적 안전 영역과 심리적 위험 영역으로 구분하고, 심리적 안전 영역 준수를 위한 동적 속도 관리 전략을 제안하였다. 또한, 교통류 시뮬레이션을 통해 속도 관리 전략을 적용하고 적용 전･후에 대한 비교평가를 수행하였다. 시뮬레이션 실험 결과, 본 연구에서 제안한 전략은 비신호교차로 통행 중 자율주행차의 거동이 심리적 안전 영역에 해당하는 비율을 유의하게 향상하는 것으로 나타났다. 또한, 자율주행차의 속도가 심리적 위험 영역에 해당하는 시점에서 PSM 대비 속도 편차를 정량적으로 분석하였다. 이를 통해 제안된 전략이 자율주행차의 속도를 심리적 안전 영역에 보다 안정적으로 근접시키는 것으로 도출되었다. 본 연구는 인간 운전자의 심리적 안전을 고려한 신규 지표의 개발과 이를 통한 속도 관리 전략을 제시하였다는 점에서 의의를 가진다. 향후, 교차로 통행 시 자율주행 의사결정 지원 및 심리적 안전을 고려한 평가 체계 마련을 위한 기초자료로 활용될 수 있을 것으로 기대된다.

키워드
자율주행
심리적 안전
심리적 안전 마진
속도 관리 전략
교통류 시뮬레이션
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Information
  • Publisher :Korean Society of Transportation
  • Publisher(Ko) :대한교통학회
  • Journal Title :Journal of Korean Society of Transportation
  • Journal Title(Ko) :대한교통학회지
  • Volume : 44
  • No :5
  • Pages :762-777
  • Received Date : 2026-03-27
  • Revised Date : 2026-04-13
  • Accepted Date : 2026-08-04
  • DOI :https://doi.org/10.7470/jkst.2026.44.5.762
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