Driving through a crosswalk

When driving through a crosswalk, the ego vehicle evaluates both the presence of pedestrians/objects and the state of any associated traffic lights.

Info

For more technical details, refer to the autoware_behavior_velocity_crosswalk_module documentation.

Info

These examples use the Nishishinjuku map, the same one used in the lane change scenario.

Tip

For these tutorials, it is easier to use interactive dummy pedestrians (see Placing interactive dummy objects above).

This way you can quickly add, move, and delete dummy pedestrians as needed.

Non-signalized crosswalk (no traffic light)

Behavior logic

flowchart TD
    A["Approach **crosswalk**"] --> B{"Pedestrian somewhere on the **crosswalk**? <br/> (Pedestrian velocity is not important.)"}
    B -- "No" --> C["Proceed without slowing down"]
    B -- "Yes" --> D["Slow down and stop **one time**"]
    D --> E["Wait a few seconds to confirm safe to proceed"]
    E --> F{"Pedestrian or object on **planned path**?"}
    F -- "Yes" --> G["Continue waiting / yield"]
    F -- "No" --> H["Resume driving (will not stop again for this crosswalk)"]
    H --> I["Crosswalk passed ➡️ behavior resets when encountering the same crosswalk again"]

Experiment

We will test the expected “single stop then go” behavior:

1. Place a still dummy pedestrian on the crosswalk. (Not on the planned path, just on the crosswalk.)

2. The ego vehicle will decelerate and stop before the crosswalk.

3. After waiting for a few seconds, the ego vehicle will start driving again as usual.

1. Set an initial pose and a goal pose for the ego vehicle to drive through a non-signalized crosswalk. A path will be planned.

   

2. Place an interactive dummy pedestrian on the crosswalk and set its pose as if it is crossing the street. It doesn't matter whether the dummy pedestrian is moving or not, as long as it is on the crosswalk.

   

3. Engage the ego vehicle by clicking on Auto. The ego vehicle will decelerate and stop before the crosswalk. The marked crosswalk in the figure indicates that the stopping behavior is caused by the objects on the crosswalk.

   

4. The ego vehicle will wait for about a few seconds. Then it will start moving again and pass the crosswalk.

   

Signalized crosswalk (with traffic light)

Location for signalized crosswalk experiments

Experiment 1: Pedestrian Present While Traffic Light Is GREEN

This experiment mirrors the previous one but at a signalized crosswalk.

With the pedestrian near the path and the traffic light GREEN, the ego behaves the same as at a non-signalized crosswalk: it slows, stops, waits, then continues.

Experiment 2: Interaction of Pedestrians and a RED Traffic Light

1. Stop before the crosswalk when the traffic light is set to RED. (Without pedestrians.)

2. Add a dummy pedestrian on the crosswalk while the traffic light is RED. (Both the traffic light and the crosswalk should affect the stopping behavior.)

3. Finally, set the traffic light to GREEN again and the vehicle will pass normally.

1. Stop at red (no pedestrians). Remove any existing dummy pedestrians and set the traffic light to RED. The ego vehicle will stop before the crosswalk and wait solely because of the traffic_light reason.

   

2. Add a pedestrian while the light is RED. The ego remains stopped, now influenced by both the traffic light and the crosswalk object.

   

3. Observe how the stop reasons update. After a short period, only traffic_light may remain displayed. Moving the pedestrian slightly (with Shift+🖱️ Right Click drag) reintroduces both markers, but the system stabilizes back to the traffic-light reason during the wait.

   

4. Switch the light to GREEN. When set to green and Auto mode is engaged, the ego vehicle proceeds normally.