Autonowashing: The Greenwashing of Vehicle Automation

The presence of automation is growing in the domains of homes, workplaces, and roadways. Vehicle automation in particular is raising critical human factors issues which directly impact human-machine interaction and road safety. It is especially important that users of partial and semi-autonomous systems in safety-critical contexts understand the limitations of the technology, in order to ensure appropriate reliance. Studies indicate that media and marketing descriptions of vehicle automation affect user perceptions of asystem's capabilities, and later their interaction with the system. Much like “greenwashing”, the capabilities of automation are often overstated. The lack of public awareness of this issue is one of the most critical problems impacting trust calibration and the safe use of vehicle automation. Yet, it has gone unnamed and continues to affect the public understanding of the technology. Hence, the case for the use of the term “autonowashing” to describe the gap in the presentation of automation and the actual system capabilities is put forth. This paper presents case studies and discusses key issues in autonowashing, a term/concept that influences or relates to public perceptions of vehicle automation.

• Record URL:
  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trip.2020.100113
• Record URL:
  http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590198220300245
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/25901982
• Supplemental Notes:
  • © 2020 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Abstract reprinted with permission of Elsevier.
• Authors:
  • Dixon, Liza
• Publication Date: 2020-5

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 100113
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives
  • Volume: 5
  • Issue Number: 0
  • Publisher: Elsevier
  • ISSN: 2590-1982
  • Serial URL: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/transportation-research-interdisciplinary-perspectives
• Publication flags:

  Open Access (libre)

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Automation; Autonomous vehicles; Case studies; Consumers; Human machine systems; Marketing; Promotion; Psychological trust
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Highways; Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01742702
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jun 18 2020 9:44AM