Case Studies 2 – Emergent, Underserved & New Markets Developing Socially Acceptable Autonomous Vehicles ERIK VINKHUYZEN Nissan Research Center – Silicon Valley MELISSA CEFKIN Nissan Research Center – Silicon Valley Recognizing that the movement of cars on the road involves inherently social action, Nissan hired a team of social scientists to lead research for the development of autonomous vehicles (AVs) that engage with pedestrians, bicyclists, and other cars in a socially acceptable manner. We are expected to provide results that can be implemented into algorithms, resulting in a challenge to our social science perspective: How do we translate what are observably social practices into implementable algorithms when road use practices are so often contingent on the particulars of a situation, and these situations defy easy categorization and generalization? This case study explores how our cross-disciplinary engagements have proceeded. A particular challenge for our efforts is the limitations of the technology in making observational distinctions that socially acceptable driving necessitates. We also illustrate some of the significant successes we’ve already achieved, including the identification of road use practices that are translatable into AV software and the development of a concept, called the Intention Indicator, for how the AV might communicate with other road users. We continue to investigate road use to uncover and describe the ways in which the social interpretation of the world can enhance the design and behavior of AVs. BACKGROUND Nissan, just like many automotive companies (OEMs), is developing autonomous vehicles (AV) and like many other OEMs has invested in a Silicon Valley-based research center where key aspects of the AV’s software systems are being developed. The particular focus for the lab is on autonomous driving for the city. From its establishment in 2013, the director of the research center, Maarten Sierhuis, maintained that a central challenge for autonomous vehicles would be effective interaction with other road users. The demands of city driving require this; urban contexts are interaction rich. A goal of Nissan’s AV development, therefore, is to ensure “socially acceptable” autonomous driving. To this end, he contracted Gitti Jordan, a world-renowned anthropologist, and later built a small group of social scientists to help work out what socially acceptable driving might mean in practice. In Maarten’s original vision socially acceptable autonomous driving would be driving in which AVs, when interacting with other road users, operate smoothly and in a manner appropriate to the specific interactional context; AVs that behave neither too aggressively nor yield incessantly to other road users, neither impede the normal flow of traffic nor cause undue notice. In short, socially acceptable autonomous driving would mean that Nissan AVs would smoothly integrate into the flow of traffic and handle roadway interactions without disrupting other road users moving down the road. Determining what it would take for AVs to operate in this manner has been one of the key areas of focus for our group. 2016 Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference Proceedings, p. 522–534, ISSN 1559-8918, https://www.epicpeople.org