Trust and Team Performance in Human-Autonomy Teaming

This study aims to better understand trust in human-autonomy teams, finding that trust is important for team performance. A Wizard of Oz approach was used to simulate an autonomous agent team member, in a remotely piloted aircraft system research environment, to study the relationship between trust and team performance in human-autonomy teams. Results show that (1) there are lower levels of trust in the autonomous agent in low-performing teams compared with medium- or high-performing teams; (2) there is a loss of trust in the autonomous agent over time across low-, medium-, and high-performing teams; and (3) both low- and medium-performing teams indicated lower levels of trust in their human team members. These findings indicate that trust in a teammate (autonomous or human) is associated with team performance and that trust may evolve over time irrespective of team performance.