GPS devices, automation, and creepy men with chainsaws

I have been totally reliant on my GPS since I got to Rhode Island, and it has been mostly reliable. There have been a couple of errors, but nothing too drastic. Coming back from nearby Whole Foods last night, however, nearly gave me a panic attack. The route given to me by my GPS took me through a dark industrial park, past dimly lit residential areas, a giant warehouse with big loading docks, and a construction zone with a recently leveled building.

Did the GPS get me home? Yes. Did it take the shortest route? Yes. Did I have no choice but to fully trust the automation and hope that I wouldn’t encounter creepy men with chainsaws? Yes.

Automation is a wonderful thing, but it is distressing to be at the mercy of a machine. Yet, in many ideal futures, our cars drive for us so we don’t have to do any work. Except worry about creepy man with chainsaws.

Thankfully, there has been a lot of research on automation in the human factors literature. Much of the research examines how humans trust automation and how automation use changes after a failure. One of the better review articles is:

Parasuraman, R. & Riley, V. (1997). Humans and Automation: Use, Misuse, Disuse, Abuse. Human Factors, 39(2), 230-253. (link)