Authority and responsibility in human-machine systems: probability theoretic validation of machine-initiated trading of authority

Human-centered automation is an approach to realize a work environment in which humans and machines cooperate. It is usually claimed in the framework that "the human must have final authority over the automation." However, correctness of the statement is context dependent: we note that humans have limited capabilities and authority is interconnected with responsibility. This paper illustrates the need for a machine-initiated trading of authority from humans to automation in the vehicle driving context and clarifies issues to be solved for implementing useful automation invocation based on the machine's interpretation of the situation and the human's behavior.