Intercultural Human-Centered AI for Automotive Systems: Bridging ASPICE Processes and Intelligent Human Systems Integration

Abstract: The integration of Artificial Intelligence into safety-critical automotive systems demands approaches that combine technical rigor with cultural and human-centred sensitivity. While Automotive SPICE (ASPICE) ensures structured engineering practices, it lacks explicit guidance on integrating intercultural human factors and intelligent AI-driven support. This paper proposes a framework for Intercultural Human-Centred AI that bridges ASPICE-based practices with intelligent human systems integration, ensuring both compliance and adaptability in global engineering contexts. Three core challenges are addressed. First, AI-driven assessments can produce inconsistent outputs, which can be addressed through structured, cache-augmented generation pipelines combined with explainable decision layers, demonstrating how consistency and auditability can be achieved in large-scale assessments. Second, engineering processes are embedded in diverse cultural contexts, requiring design principles for intercultural user interface design that support inclusive AI interaction across geographically distributed teams. Third, intelligent assistant systems are positioned as partners rather than replacements for assessors through deterministic workflow architectures that enhance decision-making while maintaining human responsibility. This paper combines computational modelling with real-world deployment evidence. Developed by an experienced ASPICE assessor, the system demonstrates how process assessments can be augmented with AI-based retrieval and reasoning. A prototype was deployed to 12 domain experts who processed 424 queries over five days, generating 218,123 tokens with high perceived usefulness ratings and strong adoption intent. This work provides both methodological foundation and practical tools for organizations integrating people and intelligent systems effectively, with relevance beyond automotive to all regulated industries requiring compliance, cultural inclusivity, and human-AI collaboration.

Keywords: Human-Centered AI, Intercultural Design, ASPICE, Intelligent Human Systems, Human-Autonomy Teaming, Context-Augmented Generation, Automotive Engineering

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1007131

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