Making Sense of the Felt Experience of Controlling Autonomous Systems

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Abstract
Methods for understanding the felt and situated experience of controlling autonomous systems are crucial for designing systems that are adjusted to the complexity of human interaction. Prior work has tended to overlook the bodily and experiential dimensions of monitoring systems at a distance, particularly in moments of losing control. We combined two approaches, ethnomethodology and conversation analysis, and soma design, to explore a case where a semi-autonomous system crashed when controlled by an inexperienced operator, captured in video ethnographic fieldwork. We report on our methodological approach, combining sequential video analysis of the unfolding sequence and interviews inspired by microphenomenology to unpack the operator’s experience of losing control. We contribute methodological considerations for interaction designers seeking to explore the felt experience of having and losing control of autonomous systems and discuss how insights gained through this combination of methods, rooted in phenomenology, support a designerly appreciation of safety operators’ work.
Funding Information
  • Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (PF25-0001)
  • Vetenskapsrådet (2023-04032)
  • Vetenskapsrådet (2024-05867)
  • Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Program – Humanity and Society (WASP-HS 676)
  • Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Program – Humanity and Society (WASP-HS 808)
  • Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Program – Humanity and Society (MMW 2019.0228)
  • Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (MMW 2020.0086)
  • Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (Turing AI World Leading Researcher Fellowship EP/Z534808/1)

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