Abstract

Advanced vehicle technology promises to transform transportation in a manner as fundamental as the transformation ushered in by motor vehicles over a century ago. Such a transformation faces considerable technical hurdles in crafting vehicle sensors and control algorithms to safely navigate the complexity of roads and traffic. Beyond these technical challenges, there are challenges associated with the psychological and social forces that guide how people respond to the technology, such as trust. Trust influences driver’s sense that it is safe to let the vehicle drive itself, and it also influences the acceptance and tolerance of driverless vehicles. Trust even mediates how people relate to the companies and governmental agencies that work to make these vehicles safe and equitable. This chapter defines trust, describes the mechanisms that underlie it, and then addresses its role in mediating the relationship between human drivers in semi-self-driving vehicles and riders in driverless vehicles. The chapter also considers how trust influences relationships in the broader transportation network that includes people outside the vehicle, such as remote operators who control driverless vehicles at a distance, people who share the road with automated vehicles, and people who share rides in automated vehicles. This broad network of relationships introduces new challenges to establishing appropriate trust because the goals of the automation may not align with those of the people, as when pedestrians and automated vehicles negotiate for the right-of-way at an intersection. The chapter considers these challenges by suggesting how to craft technology that promotes appropriate trust (i.e., trustable) and technology that merits trust (i.e., trustworthy).