| dc.description.abstract | Miscalibrated relationships between operator trust and automation can lead to accidents, some even fatal. If an operator either over or under trusts the system's capability, their overall assessment of the system's reliability can be inaccurate and potentially lead to poor decision making. As autonomous vehicles emerge, understanding the natural trust formation process as it occurs over time between drivers and these vehicles is crucial to increase safety and reliability, as well as identifying any factors that can affect this process. To fill this gap, an autonomous vehicle was observed as it operated on Texas A&M University's campus in mixed traffic for an 8-week demonstration.
Throughout the deployment, the vehicle was operated autonomously and used four safety operators from the student population to take over shuttle operations, as necessary. Research personnel collected daily and weekly surveys and hosted interviews to investigate how operators' trust developed and changed over time and to study the relationship between trust and operational factors. Preliminary findings established a potential relationship between trust and the number of vehicle errors. Interview data also suggested that trust was dependent on situational circumstances affected by the operator’s emotional comfort and familiarity with the vehicle. | en |
