Progress enables the creation of more automated and intelligent machines with increasing abilities that open up new roles between humans and machines. Only with a proper design for the resulting cooperative human-machine systems, these advances will make our lives easier, safer and enjoyable rather than harder and miserable. Starting from examples of natural cooperative systems, the paper investigates four cornerstone concepts for the design of such systems: ability, authority, control and responsibility, as well as their relationship to each other and to concepts like levels of automation and autonomy. Consistency in the relations between these concepts is identified as an important quality for the system design. A simple graphical tool is introduced that can help to visualize the cornerstone concepts and their relations in a single diagram. Examples from the automotive domain, where a cooperative guidance and control of highly automated vehicles is under investigation, demonstrate the application of the concepts and the tool. Transitions in authority and control, e.g. initiated by changes in the ability of human or machine, are identified as key challenges. A sufficient consistency of the mental models of human and machines, not only in the system use but also in the design and evaluation, can be a key enabler for a successful dynamic balance between humans and machines.

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As an introduction to the session of shared and cooperative control, this article will briefly look into the history, start with definitions and sketch a common framework of shared and cooperative control that sees the two phrases not as different concepts, but as different perspectives or foci on a common design space of shared intentionality, control and cooperation between humans and machines. One working hypothesis which the session will explore is that shared control can be understood as cooperation at the control level, while human machine cooperation can include shared control, but can also extend towards cooperation at higher levels, e.g. of guidance and navigation, of maneuvers and goals. We propose to view the relationship between shared control and human-machine cooperation as being similar to the relationship between the sharp, pointy tip and the (blunt) shaft of a spear. Shared control is where cooperation comes sharply into effect at the control level, but to be truly effective it should be supported by cooperation on all levels of interaction beyond the control level, e.g. on the guidance and navigation level