The Ecosystem of Trust (EoT): Enabling effective deployment of autonomous systems through collaborative and trusted ecosystems

TL;DR

This paper introduces the Ecosystem of Trust (EoT) approach to facilitate trustworthy deployment of autonomous systems by fostering collaboration and assurance among stakeholders, technologies, and environments, demonstrated through a zero-emission ferry case study.

Contribution

The paper proposes a novel Ecosystem of Trust framework that integrates assurance practices to enhance trust and collaboration in deploying autonomous systems.

Findings

EoT approach supports stakeholder collaboration and trust-building.

Assurance is essential for justified confidence and successful deployment.

Real-world case demonstrates practical application of the approach.

Abstract

Ecosystems are ubiquitous but trust within them is not guaranteed. Trust is paramount because stakeholders within an ecosystem must collaborate to achieve their objectives. With the twin transitions, digital transformation to go in parallel with green transition, accelerating the deployment of autonomous systems, trust has become even more critical to ensure that the deployed technology creates value. To address this need, we propose an ecosystem of trust approach to support deployment of technology by enabling trust among and between stakeholders, technologies and infrastructures, institutions and governance, and the artificial and natural environments in an ecosystem. The approach can help the stakeholders in the ecosystem to create, deliver, and receive value by addressing their concerns and aligning their objectives. We present an autonomous, zero emission ferry as a real world use case to demonstrate the approach from a stakeholder perspective. We argue that assurance, defined as grounds for justified confidence originated from evidence and knowledge, is a prerequisite to enable the approach. Assurance provides evidence and knowledge that are collected, analysed, and communicated in a systematic, targeted, and meaningful way. Assurance can enable the approach to help successfully deploy technology by ensuring that risk is managed, trust is shared, and value is created.