Workshop on Public Trust in Autonomous Systems

Description

Future robotic systems, such as autonomous vehicles and caregiving robots, are promising to revolutionize our homes, cities and roads—but how can we trust that they will be safe? How can society understand what type of assurances it should expect and demand from these technologies? Consider a cyclist suddenly falling in the path of an autonomous car. Must the car always avoid a collision? If it does not, is it an unfortunate edge case or an unacceptable safety failure calling for a fleet-wide recall?

The Workshop on Public Trust in Autonomous Systems (PTAS) aims to shed light on what assurances we can make—and demand—around the deployment of autonomous systems, informing the public conversation while these technologies are still at an early stage of development. We believe that for robots, autonomous vehicles, and AI systems to become part of our everyday lives, their safety must be as well understood as that of bridges, power plants, and elevators. The workshop aims to catalyze progress toward this goal by bringing technical and regulatory experts together for a focused day-long discussion, targeting new insights on what it would take to establish rigorous foundations for public trust in autonomous systems.