Failing Consistently and Expectedly: Effects of Error Consistency and Drivers’ Mental Models on Trust in Automated Vehicles

This ongoing study investigates how driver expectations and automation error consistency influence trust in Driving Automation Systems (DASs). Drawing on the Expectation Confirmation Theory (ECT), we hypothesize that trust increases when system performance aligns with or exceeds driver expectations on the DASs. Inconsistencies in error patterns may diminish trust. We conducted a 2 × 3 × 3 mixed-design experiment on STISIM Drive with 150 participants, manipulating expectations (high vs. low) and error patterns (no error, consistent, or inconsistent errors). Trust and response times to takeover requests (TORs) were measured three times, one at each drive. We predict higher trust and longer TOR times in low-expectation conditions. As for error patterns, we predict the highest trust to arise from scenarios with no errors and longer TOR times when errors are inconsistent. Our findings are expected to provide insights into enhancing DAS design by aligning system performance with user expectations and promoting error consistency to improve trust and user satisfaction.