Trust Triggers for Multimodal Command and Control Interfaces

For autonomous systems to be accepted by society and operators, they have to instil the appropriate level of trust. In this paper, we discuss what dimensions constitute trust and examine certain triggers of trust for an autonomous underwater vehicle, comparing a multimodal command and control interface with a language-only reporting system. We conclude that there is a relationship between perceived trust and the clarity of a user's Mental Model and that this Mental Model is clearer in a multimodal condition, compared to language-only. Regarding trust triggers, we are able to show that a number of triggers, such as anomalous sensor readings, noticeably modify the perceived trust of the subjects, but in an appropriate manner, thus illustrating the utility of the interface.