Engineering Psychological Safety in Autonomous Vehicles: A Systems-Theoretic Framework for Psychological Safety in Autonomous Vehicles and its Validation in Real-World Scenarios

2026-08-19

AI Summary

本文提出并验证了一个系统理论框架，用于识别和评估自动驾驶车辆中的人机交互心理风险，并通过实际场景测试了其应用性和有效性。

Abstract

Despite rapid technological advances, the societal acceptability of autonomous vehicles (AVs) remains limited by psychological barriers that extend beyond traditional concerns of physical safety. While factors such as trust and perceived safety are known to influence user acceptance, there is a lack of formalized mechanisms and engineering methods to systematically identify, assess, and mitigate psychological risks arising from human-AV interactions. To address this gap, this work proposes and validates a systems-theoretic framework for the assessment of psychological safety in autonomous vehicles. First, a comprehensive psychological safety risk model is defined, extending the Systems-Theoretic Accident Model and Processes (STAMP) to incorporate key psychological constructs such as trust, perceived control, predictability, and perceived support. Based on this model, a hazard analysis method (AV-PsySafe) is developed to systematically identify psychological hazards, unsafe control actions, and loss scenarios, while introducing a Psychological Safety Integrity Level (PsySIL) to support risk prioritization. Second, the applicability and relevance of the framework are evaluated through its deployment in realistic autonomous vehicle scenarios. A structured validation approach is implemented, including a methodological guide, standardized analysis templates, and the collection of analyst feedback. The results demonstrate that the framework can be consistently applied by practitioners, producing meaningful insights into psychological risks. Overall, this work establishes both the theoretical foundations and practical feasibility of a unified approach to co-assessing psychological and physical safety in autonomous systems, contributing to more human-centred and trustworthy AV development.

Problem

• psychological safety
• autonomous vehicles
• user acceptance
• risk assessment
• human-AV interactions

Innovation

• Systems-Theoretic Framework
• Psychological Safety
• Autonomous Vehicles
• AV-PsySafe
• PsySIL