Abstract
Objective:This paper aims to explore the role of factors pertaining to trust in real-world automation systems through the application of observational methods in a case study from the railway sector.Background:Trust in automation is widely acknowledged as an important mediator of automation use, but the majority of the research on automation trust is based on laboratory work. In contrast, this work explored trust in a real-world setting.Method:Experienced rail operators in four signaling centers were observed for 90 min, and their activities were coded into five mutually exclusive categories. Their observed activities were analyzed in relation to their reported trust levels, collected via a questionnaire.Results:The results showed clear differences in activity, even when circumstances on the workstations were very similar, and significant differences in some trust dimensions were found between groups exhibiting different levels of intervention and time not involved with signaling.Conclusion:Although the empirical, lab-based studies in the literature have consistently found that reliability and competence of the automation are the most important aspects of trust development, understanding of the automation emerged as the strongest dimension in this study. The implications are that development and maintenance of trust in real-world, safety-critical automation systems may be distinct from artificial laboratory automation.Application:The findings have important implications for emerging automation concepts in diverse industries including highly automated vehicles and Internet of things.
Highlights
Automation is becoming increasingly pervasive, and there is an urgent need to learn lessons from well-established highly automated systems in order to influence the design of new forms and applications of automation
The results showed clear differences in activity, even when circumstances on the workstations were very similar, and significant differences in some trust dimensions were found between groups exhibiting different levels of intervention and time not involved with signaling
This paper explores the role of factors pertaining to trust in real-world automation systems, applying observational methods in a case study from the railway sector to relate automation use to reported trust
Summary
Automation is becoming increasingly pervasive, and there is an urgent need to learn lessons from well-established highly automated systems in order to influence the design of new forms and applications of automation. Muir (1994) stated that if it was not possible to build automated systems that are trustworthy, we could not build automated systems at all, and several studies have found a correlation between trust levels and use of automated systems (e.g., de-Vries, Midden, & Bouwhuis, 2003; Lewandowsky, Mundy, & Tan, 2000; Moray, Inagaki, & Itoh, 2000; Muir & Moray, 1989) These studies find that operators use automation only to the extent that they trust it; if operators distrust automation they will reject it, preferring to perform the task manually. This work explored trust in a real-world setting
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