Trust in autonomous vehicles: insights from a Swedish suburb

Abstract

This paper investigates elements of trust in autonomous vehicles (AVs). We contextualise autonomous vehicles as part of people's everyday settings to extend previous understandings of trust and explore trust in autonomous vehicles in concrete social contexts. We conducted online co-creation workshops with 22 participants, using design probes to explore trust and AVs in relation to people's everyday lives. Using a socio-technical perspective, we show how trust and acceptance depend not only on the underlying AV technology but also–if not more so–on human-to-human relationships and real-life social circumstances. We argue that when investigating issues of trust and automation, the scope of analysis needs to be broadened to include a more complex socio-technical set of (human and non-human) agents, to extend from momentary human-computer interactions to a wider timescale, and be situated in concrete spaces, social networks, and situations.