Toward Governing Perception in Safety-Critical Mediated Reality on the Move

2026-03-09

AI Summary

This study addresses the critical challenge that in dynamic, high-risk mobile scenarios—such as autonomous driving or cycling—mediated reality (MR) systems, by suppressing or altering elements of the real environment, may inadvertently degrade users’ situational awareness and impair trust calibration, all while lacking mechanisms for governance. To bridge this gap, the work introduces the concept of “governability” into mobile MR for the first time, identifying three core design challenges: governance granularity, cognitive signaling, and accountability mechanisms. It proposes a real-time perceptual intervention framework that integrates head-worn displays, computer vision, and Diminished/Modified Reality techniques. The research establishes a novel paradigm for governable perception in safety-critical mobile MR applications, offering both a theoretical foundation and actionable design guidance for future systems.

Technology Category

• Intelligent Robots: Multi-Robot Systems
• Application Domains: Mobility, Driving & Flight
• Reasoning under Uncertainty: Applications

Application Category

• Responsible Web: Machine-in-the-loop, human agency and autonomy
• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Web applications in cross-disciplinary domains and verticals such as mixed reality, smart cities, and digital health
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Accountability, Transparency, and Ethics for personalization

Abstract

Wearable Augmented Reality (AR) is increasingly deployed in on-the-move contexts such as automated driving, cycling, and pedestrian navigation. To date, most systems rely on additive overlays that highlight hazards, intentions, or predictions without altering the scene itself. However, advances in head-mounted displays and computer vision now enable Diminished and Modified Reality techniques that suppress, transform, or substitute scene elements. These capabilities conceptually extend AR into Mediated Reality (MR), shifting the design space from"what to add"to"what is perceptually available."Because such mediation reshapes the evidential basis for situation awareness and trust calibration, it raises novel interaction challenges. This position paper argues that MR on the move must become governable, as users need mechanisms to configure, inspect, and understand mediation without compromising safety. Additionally, this position paper outlines design challenges related to governance granularity, epistemic signaling, and accountability, and frames MR on the move as a research agenda for governable perceptual mediation in dynamic, safety-critical environments.

Problem

• Mediated Reality
• perceptual mediation
• safety-critical
• governance
• wearable AR

Innovation

• Mediated Reality
• governable perception
• diminished reality
• safety-critical systems
• perceptual mediation