Remotely seeing is believing: how trust in cyber-physical systems evolves through virtual observation

Abstract

We study how passive virtual observation of cyber-physical systems (CPS) can affect human trust in those systems. We perform this study via a newly developed novel web application that enables researchers to show pre-recorded or live video feeds to groups of users in a synchronized fashion. Users are able to provide real-time feedback on these videos via affect buttons and a free-form chat interface. We evaluate our application via a quantitative user study (N≈80) involving videos of CPS, such as autonomous vehicles (AVs), performing positively or negatively. Using data collected from user responses in the application, as well as customized survey instruments assessing different facets of trust, we find that human trust in CPS can be affected by remotely observing the behaviour of such systems—without ever encountering them in person.