Vehicles That Understand Emotions: Empathic Vehicle At Ihiet-ai 2026 In Valencia
19 May, 2026
The presentation demonstrated how vehicles can recognize moods and take adaptive measures. The findings and key insights from the Empathic Vehicle research project were discussed with experts in Valencia.
Since January 2024, the team behind the Empathic Vehicle research project has been working to equip vehicles with the ability to recognize and respond to the body language and emotional states of their occupants. This is based on the latest technologies in the fields of computer vision and machine learning.
Current Developments in Human Interaction & Emerging Technologies
Niklas Fraissl and Timothy Berens (Lecturers / Researchers from the Digital Enterprise & UX competence area) attended the IHIET-AI 2026 Conference in Valencia from April 23 to 25, 2026. The international event offered inspiring insights into current developments in Human Interaction & Emerging Technologies.
During the conference, they presented the research project Empathic Vehicle as well as their paper (co-authored with Benedikt Salzbrunn, Andreas Sackl, and Sandra Kitting) on the study conducted at FH Technikum Wien in 2025: Exploring Emotion Aware Vehicles: How Should a Car Respond?
Additional Contributions From The Automotive Sector
In their presentation, they presented key study findings and discussed the implications derived from them as well as future research steps. Complemented by additional contributions from the automotive sector, this led to an exciting professional exchange with international colleagues.
The Empathic Vehicle research project is funded by the Vienna Business Agency. Further information is available on the Empathic Vehicle project page.
The published paper “Exploring Empathy for Emotion-Aware Vehicles: How Should a Car Respond?” is available under the following DOI: https://doi.org/10.54941/ahfe1007158
Further Information:
Road Safety and UX Combined: Empathic Vehicle Shapes the Future of Driving
Mobility reimagined: The next step toward smart driving in the Empathic Vehicle
Emotion recognition in vehicles: Update on the Empathic Vehicle project
Empathic Vehicle: Presentation of initial project results at the AIRoV 2025 conference in Klagenfurt
