Bimodal Trust: High and Low Trust in Vehicle Automation Influence Response to Automation Errors

Abstract

Extended exposure to reliable automation may lead to overreliance as evidenced by poor responses to auto-mation errors. Individual differences in trust may also influence responses. We investigated how these factors affect response to automation errors in a driving simulator study comprised of stop-controlled and uncon-trolled intersections. Drivers experienced reliable vehicle automation during six drives where they indicated if they felt the automation was going too slow or too fast by pressing the accelerator or brake pedal. Engage-ment via pedal presses did not affect the automation but offered an objective measure of trust in automation. In the final drive, an error occurred where the vehicle failed to stop at a stop-controlled intersection. Drivers’ response to the error was inferred from brake presses. Mixture models showed bimodal response times and revealed that drivers with high trust were less likely to respond to automation errors than drivers with low trust.