Information sharing, trust in automation, and cooperation for multi-operator multi-automation systems

Inappropriate reliance on automation can significantly degrade system performance and cause disasters in domains such as aviation and process control. People's trust in automation has been recognized as an important factor in influencing their reliance on automation. For a decentralized system such as a supply chain (SC) where multiple operators manage multiple elements of automation, not only individual operator's appropriate trust and reliance on automation is important, but trust and cooperation between individuals are critical for the success of the system. This research seeks to understand how individual's trust and reliance on automation influences cooperation between individuals and how sharing automation-related information influences reliance and cooperation. To achieve this goal, four aims are pursued using a combined approach of modeling and experiments. First, the operator's trust and reliance on automation in a supervisory control situation were simulated using a computational model based on an extension of Decision Field Theory (DFT). Second, the dynamics of evolution of cooperation between operators in a multi-operator multi-automation situation were simulated using a computational model of cooperation in an iterated Prisoner's Dilemma (IPD) game. Third, the extended DFT and the model of cooperation were integrated to simulate how reliance influences cooperation. The simulation results demonstrated that inappropriate reliance on automation could undermine cooperation and sharing automation-related information could promote cooperation. Fourth, a SC microworld was developed and two controlled experiments were conducted using the SC microworld. Consistent with the simulation results, the experiments showed that sharing information regarding the automation performance and people's reliance on automation led people to rely on automation more appropriately and trust in each other more in an IPD game. As a result, the shared information promoted cooperation. These results suggest that sharing automation-related information is a promising way to improve reliance and cooperation in multi-operator multi-automation systems.