The apparent intelligence of a system as a factor in situation awareness

In the context of interactive and automated vehicles, driver situation awareness becomes an increasingly important consideration for future traffic systems, whether it concerns the current status of the vehicle or the surrounding environment. Here, we present a simulator study investigating whether the apparent intelligence — i.e. intelligence as perceived by the driver, which is distinct from how intelligent a designer might think the system is — of a vehicle is a factor in the expectations and behaviour of the driver. We are specifically interested in perceived intelligence as a factor in situation awareness. To this end, the study modulates both traffic conditions and the type of navigational assistance given in a goal-navigation task to influence participant's perception of the system. Our result show two distinct effects relevant to situation awareness: 1) Participants who think the vehicle is highly intelligent spend more time glancing at the surrounding environment through the left door window than those who rank intelligence low and 2) participants prefer an awareness of why the navigation aid decided for specific directions but are sensitive to the manner it is presented. Our results have broader implications for the design of future automated systems in vehicles.