Emergence and collapse of reciprocity in semiautomatic driving coordination experiments with humans

Significance Simple and complex forms of machine intelligence are becoming involved in many collective action challenges humans face, including ensuring safety in groups on the move. However, the social repercussions of intelligent assistance are often overlooked. We used a unique cyber-physical lab experiment involving remote-control robotic cars and widely distributed online drivers. We show that autonomous safety systems in cars can degrade the ordinary norms of reciprocity between people. Humans have developed social norms, but these can collapse when people are allowed to leave their coordination decisions to machines.