Can Autonomous Vehicles Be Safe and Trustworthy? Effects of Appearance and Autonomy of Unmanned Driving Systems

Abstract

Although autonomous vehicles are increasingly becoming a reality, eliminating human intervention from driving may imply significant safety and trust-related concerns. To address this issue from a psychological perspective, this study applies layers of anthropomorphic cues to an artificial driving agent and explicates the process in which these cues promote positive evaluations and perceptions of an unmanned driving system. In a between-subjects factorial experiment (N = 89) consisting of three unmanned driving scenarios, participants interacted with an artificial driving agent with different levels of anthropomorphic cues induced by the variations in appearance (human-like vs. gadget-like) and autonomy (high vs. low) of the agent. The results indicated that human-like appearance and high autonomy were more effective in eliciting positive perceptions of the agent. In addition, a mediation analysis revealed that the greater level of anthropomorphism induced by human-like appearance and high autonomy in the agent evoked the feelings of social presence, which in turn positively affected the perceived intelligence and safety of and trust in the agent, suggesting that the extent to which users perceive the driving agent as intelligent, safe, and trustworthy is largely determined by the feelings of social presence experienced during their interaction.

Notes

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Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jae-Gil Lee

Jag-Gil Lee is a Ph.D. student at the Department of Interaction Science, Sungkyunkwan University. He is also affiliated with the Interaction Science Institute at the University. His research interests include information management systems, social network data analysis, and human-robot interaction. He has published a number of articles in the areas of HCI, HRI, and social network analysis.

Ki Joon Kim

Ki Joon Kim is an endowed research professor at the Department of Interaction Science, Sungkyunkwan University, where he investigates the psychological antecedents and consequences of human-technology interactions. Kim has published over 50 articles in outlets including Human Communication Research, Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, and Computers in Human Behavior. He is an equally contributing first author of this study.

Sangwon Lee

Sangwon Lee is an assistant professor at the Department of Interaction Science, Sungkyunkwan University. Prior to joining Sungkyunkwan, he was an assistant professor at Hanyang University. His research interests lie in human-computer interaction, usability engineering, affective computing, user modeling, and service design. His publications have been cited by researchers all over the world in journals, proceedings, and books.

Dong-Hee Shin

Dong-Hee Shin is a professor at the Department of Interaction Science and the director of the Interaction Science Research Center, Sungkyunkwan University. He also served as the department chair and World Class University Professor appointed by Korea’s Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology.