The Influence of Risk on Trust in Automation

Advances in technology have led to increases in the implementation of automated systems. In order for the full range of benefits of automation to be utilized, an understanding of how operators trust an automated system is vital. The level of risk in an environment is an important factor that might affect trust and one that has not been studied extensively. This dissertation aims to explore the effect differing levels of risk have on trust in an automated system. The first study examined whether trust in an autonomous teammate differs between situations with low and high risk. A second study determined if experience with the automation interacts with level of risk. Results support the hypothesis that trust decreases with experience of automation failures in training. However, findings were mixed regarding the hypothesis that trust decreases with increased risk. These experiments provide evidence that situational factors are important for training to combat complacency, as well as for appropriate calibration of trust in automation.