The engendering of trust and attribution of blame in autonomous vehicles following a cyber attack

Marcinkiewicz, Victoria 2025. The engendering of trust and attribution of blame in autonomous vehicles following a cyber attack. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University. Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

Funded by the UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (ESPRC), this thesis aimed to examine how autonomous vehicles (AVs) would be trusted (or not) in the event of a (for now hypothetical) cyber security attack/incident/event and explore how the initial loss of trust in such systems could be countered by controls tailored towards human cyber security vulnerabilities. A secondary aim was to better understand who/what potential users assign blame to/on. This thesis consists of an Introduction chapter, Literature Review chapter, three Experimental chapters consisting of thirteen Experiments and a General Discussion, Limitations and Future Directions chapter. The Experimental chapters use a mix of online survey-based Experiments (Experiments 1a – 4a and 1b – 4b); embedded Simulation Software Generated Animations (SSGAs) (Zhang et al. 2021) (Experiments 5, 6 & 6a) and driving simulation-based methodologies (Experiments 7 & 8). Both self-reported data on trust and blame was collected as well as, at times, physiological data to correlate with this measure. Unsurprisingly, results repeatedly showed a sharp decline in trust after a cyber attack (Experimental Chapters 1, 2 and 3). Perceived cyber security readiness was manipulated and impacted trust in an AV before a cyber attack occurred. When more mature cyber practices were demonstrated trust in an AV, and the company responsible for the AV, was higher (Experimental Chapter 2). After a cyber attack, the type of cyber security response affected the diminishment of trust which was lower when the response was positive (Experimental Chapter 2). On-board briefings cards that set expectations about an AV’s operational response also had promising effects of reducing the diminishment of trust (Experimental Chapter 3). Blame assignment varied based on the context but was largely directed towards ‘hackers’ or the ‘AV company itself’ (Experimental Chapters 1, 2, and 3). Overall, the findings highlight the delicate nature of trust in the event of an act of cyber and by anticipating the potential effects, appropriate controls can be designed and implemented to mitigate the impact on trusting and using this upcoming future technology. Keywords: Autonomous Vehicle(s); Cyber Security; Cyber Attack(s); Trust; Blame.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Date Type:	Completion
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	Schools > Psychology
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	14 April 2026
Last Modified:	14 Apr 2026 16:04
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/186315

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