Seventeenth International Conference on Technology, Knowledge, and Society

Abstract

Consumer trust is of paramount importance in the development of autonomous vehicles (A.V.s), because without this trust, A.V.s would not only under-perform, they could be unusable and dangerous. In this study, I give an epistemic account of trustworthiness that goes beyond the conditions for manufacturers to cultivate consumers’ subjective trust. My account aims for appropriate trustworthiness, which fully justifies consumers’ trust in A.V.s, based on appropriate indicators of trustworthiness. After defining trust in the realm of technology, I will explain six desiderata for autonomous systems in order to increase trust: Repeatability, Predictability, Reliability, Transparency, Re-constructability, and Explicability. I will define and give examples of each term, then argue that these concepts can be divided along two orthogonal axes: System Externality vs. Internality, and Expert vs. Non-expert groupings. I will argue that, to establish appropriate trust for non-expert consumers, both external and internal non-expert indicators must be present, and internal expert indicators must be accessible by appropriate authorities. Finally, I will give recommendations for incorporating these features into A.V.s.