Research Training Group (RTG)
"Social Embeddedness of Autonomous Cyber Physical Systems" (SEAS)
funded by the University of Oldenburg

Funding Period: June 2019 - Dec 2023

Summary

The digital revolution is in full swing. It opens up opportunities for a better quality of life, novel business models and more efficient management, while at the same time it poses the question of how the digital revolution shall be steered in a way that is consistent with normative and ethical foundations of libertarian civil societies, which are a precondition for modern democratic statehood. The cross-faculty SEAS Research Training Group (RTG) is designed to address this challenge with a focus on the application of Autonomous Cyber Physical Systems (ACPS) in three safety-critical domains (mobility, energy and health care) and three explanatory dimensions (acceptance, cooperation and governance).

ACPS are at the center of the process of digital transformation. They are controlled or monitored by autonomously acting algorithms while being embedded into our daily routines (e.g. autonomous cars, smart grids, e-health assistance systems). Based on two guiding premises, which are the social embeddedness of technological systems and self-explanation as a distinctive feature of future ACPS, the RTG uses an integrative research approach combining insights from social sciences, philosophy, psychology, and law with technical expertise from computer science. The scientific objective of the RTG is to provide transparency to the decision-making of safety critical ACPS in order to foster their individual and societal acceptance across individuals of wildly varying skill levels, ethical predispositions, and cognitive abilities as well as across diverse societal groups, enabling the societal, democratic, and legal control of ACPS.