Abstract
The roles of human operators are changing due to increased intelligence and autonomy of computer systems. Humans will interact with systems at a more overarching level or only in specific situations. This involves learning new practices and changing habitual ways of thinking and acting, including reconsidering human autonomy in relation to autonomous systems. This paper describes a design case of a future autonomous management system for drone traffic in cities in a key scenario we call The Computer in Brussels. Our approach to designing for human collaboration with autonomous systems builds on scenario-based design and cognitive work analysis facilitated by computer simulations. We use a temporal method, called the Joint Control Framework to describe human and automated work in an abstraction hierarchy labeled Levels of Autonomy in Cognitive Control. We use the Score notation to analyze patterns of temporal developments that span levels of the abstraction hierarchy and discuss implications for human-automation communication in traffic management. We discuss how autonomy at a lower level can prevent autonomy on higher levels, and vice versa. We also discuss the temporal nature of autonomy in minute-to-minute operative work. Our conclusion is that human autonomy in relation to autonomous systems is based on fundamental trade-offs between technological opportunities to automate and values of what human actors find meaningful.
Highlights
Industry is currently in a race to build and deploy autonomous vehicles in all areas of transport
19 potential problem situations were identified in Workshop 1, and they were categorized into four themes: Regular traffic situations, disturbances, scheduled events, and unscheduled events
A recurring theme in the workshop was a reference to “The Computer in Brussels”, which is a metonymy referring to a centralized, automated processes that they, as air traffic controllers, do not have control over. They just follow what that centralized traffic management system tells them, thereby realizing an example of human autonomy relinquished to automation
Summary
Industry is currently in a race to build and deploy autonomous vehicles in all areas of transport. Artificial intelligence (AI) will give rise to new complementary roles of autonomous systems and human autonomy, and human responsibilities will shift. At the limits of what artificial intelligence can do, various human roles are invented, such as the human in the vehicle or the human in the control center with the role of taking over if an automation fails. This question of what human roles the system requires, or that are desirable from human points of view, is still a current topic. What we know is that the introduction of automation in vehicles or whole transport systems means that
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