Marres, Noortje (2018) What if nothing happens? Street trials of intelligent cars as experiments in participation. In: Maassen, S. and Dickel, S. and Schneider, C. H., (eds.) TechnoScience in Society, Sociology of Knowledge Yearbook. Niimegen: Springer/Kluwer. (In Press)

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Abstract

This chapter evaluates an emerging paradigm for testing intelligent technology in society through the analysis of recent street trials of self-driving cars. Moving beyond laboratory based test protocols, street trials of intelligent automotive technology evaluate their performance in social environments, on public roads. As such, they appear to exemplify an
experimental approach to the introduction of technology to society, which extends "betatesting" procedures from technical to social, ethical and political aspects of technology (Jackson et al, 2014). I examine this hypothesis through a discussion of several street trials of intelligent automotive technology: the roll-out of driver-assist by Tesla; an emission test of a VW diesel car in Germany; the Gateway trial in Greenwich (UK). Each of these street tests puts in place arrangements for social engagement with intelligent automotive technology, but they do not enable an experimental approach to the societal evaluation of
technology. While these projects tend to pursue the societal acceptance of technology, they do not curate experimental situations in society in which the proposition of self-driving cars can be examined from a societal point of view. However, the contribution of social research
should not be limited to diagnosing methodological limitations of current tests of intelligent technology in society. We should examine if street tests can be re-purposed to enable the elicitation of societal aspects of innovation. I then conclude with a description of an 'experiment in participation' (Lezaun, Marres, Tironi, 2016) in which our team deployed
creative methods to elicit social issues raised by driverless cars, by way of a group exercise conducted in the Driver-in-the-loop simulator at the University of Warwick (Marres, Kimbell, Cain et al, 2017). The explication of social aspects of inteligent technology requires the deliberate adaptation of test environments in society.

Item Type:	Book Item
Divisions:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies
Publisher:	Springer/Kluwer
Place of Publication:	Niimegen
Book Title:	TechnoScience in Society, Sociology of Knowledge Yearbook
Editor:	Maassen, S. and Dickel, S. and Schneider, C. H.
Official Date:	7 February 2018
Dates:	Date Event 24 November 2017 Submitted 7 February 2018 Accepted
Status:	Not Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	In Press
Access rights to Published version:	Restricted or Subscription Access
Related URLs:	Publisher

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