  As autonomous vehicles (AVs) inch closer to reality, a central requirement
for acceptance will be earning the trust of humans in everyday driving
situations. In particular, the interaction between AVs and pedestrians is of
high importance, as every human is a pedestrian at some point of the day. This
paper considers the interaction of a pedestrian and an autonomous vehicle at a
mid-block, unsignalized intersection where there is ambiguity over when the
pedestrian should cross and when and how the vehicle should yield. By modeling
pedestrian behavior through the concept of gap acceptance, the authors show
that a hybrid controller with just four distinct modes allows an autonomous
vehicle to successfully interact with a pedestrian across a continuous spectrum
of possible crosswalk entry behaviors. The controller is validated through
extensive simulation and compared to an alternate POMDP solution and
experimental results are provided on a research vehicle for a virtual
pedestrian.
