Despite the widespread application of Autonomous Vehicles (AV) to various services, there has been relatively little research carried out on pedestrian–AV interaction and trust within the context of service provided by AV. This study explores the communication design strategy promoting a pedestrian’s trust and positive attitude to driverless services within the context of pedestrian–AV interaction using non-verbal social cues. An empirical study was conducted with an experimental VR environment to measure participants’ intimacy, trust, and brand attitude toward AV. Further understanding of their social interaction experiences was explored through semi-structured interviews. As a result of the study, the interaction effect of social cues was found, and it was revealed that brand attitude was formed by the direct effects of intimacy and trust as well as the indirect effects of intimacy through trust’s mediation. Furthermore, ‘Conceptual Definition of Space’ was identified to generate differences in the interplay among intimacy, trust, and brand attitude according to social cues. Quantitative and qualitative results were synthesized to discuss implications considering the service context. Practical implications were also addressed suggesting specific design strategies for utilizing the sociality of AV.

This study introduces Action Research to present a service program through an interdisciplinary service design approach for promoting the residential stability of elderly people. We extracted design elements (1) “things to do” and (2) “community” and “strategies”, and then made a design framework. According to the framework, we developed a service design program, named “Small Daily Life: “Small Daily Life Tasks”, which provided opportunities to share the elderly people’s daily life via online videos “Small Meeting”, which helped develop a network of relationships outside the home by informing neighbors regarding elderly people’s know-how, and “Small Sharing”, which delivers the results of previous activities to those who need help in the community. Finally, we describe our reflective case study on the presented service program and examine the relationship between social infrastructure and design and their respective roles. This study will expand service design methodologies as presented research procedures, generalized frameworks, and conceptual models that can be referenced in multidisciplinary collaborations.

This study delves into the concept of “infinity” within head-mounted display (HMD) virtual reality (VR) exhibitions. In this study, “infinity” is defined as an endless space and a boundless scope of virtual experience and interactions. We investigate how this expansive interpretation creates a unique and special exhibition experience that distinguishes virtual exhibitions from physical exhibitions. To this end, the study examines the effects of the spatial and participatory characteristics of virtual exhibitions on immersion, cybersickness, completion time, and interaction time. The experiment was conducted through surveys, behavioral observations, and interviews. The results showed that infinity of spatial characteristics increased participants’ immersion. While participatory characteristics had no direct effect on immersion, there was a significant interaction between spatial and participatory characteristics. The 3D (space) surrounded by walls and create (participation), which allows participants to create their own exhibits, was the only combination that decreased immersion and increased cybersickness. The combination with the highest immersion was “3D infinite (space)” and “change (participation),” indicating that a design that allows users to interact with the exhibition in an infinite space is useful for promoting immersion in virtual exhibitions. Adjusting the proportion of spatial and participatory characteristics according to the purpose of the exhibition is recommended since infinity of spatial characteristics increases interaction time and infinity of participatory characteristics significantly increases completion time. The results of this study have practical implications for organizations developing virtual exhibitions and shed light on the value of infinity-based virtual exhibitions and the specific elements that make them possible.