TECHNOLOGY TRUST: THE IMPACT OF ANTHROPOMORPHIC SYSTEM INFORMATION ON THE ACCEPTANCE OF AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS USED IN HIGH-RISK APPLICATIONS

Autonomous systems provide the military with advanced capabilities permitting the execution of increasingly dangerous and difficult missions. A human in the loop is still required to decide how and when to deploy these technologies. The research problem this dissertation addresses is a user’s rejection of new technology in high-risk applications due to a lack of trust in the use of the technology. This is a problem because users’ lack of trust in new technology, designed to support users in high-risk situations, will prevent the use of the technology. The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the effect of information presented about a new technology as well as the effect of the level of automation offered by the new technology on the perceived trust (i.e., as measured by the perceived usefulness, ease of use, and intent to use). An experiment was conducted that manipulated the level of automation and the presentation of information in three systems. The results indicated that, in high-risk scenarios, it is not possible to develop trust in technology without the system presentation of operational information. The study results also indicated that the level of automation was not a factor in developing technology trust in high-risk scenarios.
Civilian, Department of the Navy
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