Autonomous vehicles will get assistance from humans for some time to come—even if those humans aren’t physically located in the vehicles. Tim Higgins at The Wall Street Journal reports that as Waymo autonomous vehicles shuttle passengers around the Phoenix area, employees in a remote command center can monitor the vehicles and help them extract themselves from confusing and complicated driving situations.
Higgins quotes Anthony Foxx, former U.S. Transportation Secretary and adviser to Autotech Ventures, as saying, “You’re going to want as many different backup systems as possible, and human beings performing remote operations is one of those.”
Higgins cites California records showing that humans take control of autonomous test vehicles 0.8 times per 1,000 miles driven, while other companies experienced higher takeover rates.
Remote operators working for Waymo and GM’s Cruise Automation use cellular connections to communicate with vehicles, according to Higgins. That raises issues of reliability and latency, at least until 5G rolls out.
However, the operators are seemingly not providing real-time control but rather responding to stopped cars seeking to extricate themselves from complicated situations. Explains Higgins, “Instead of making split-second decisions, remote operators act more like a call-center help desk, guiding cars when they are stumped.”
Higgins says that Ford has experienced lost LTE signals when testing a remote driving system when testing a remote driving system on the Georgia Tech campus and adds that Phantom Auto reports that it relies on multiple cellular providers and maps of weak connections.
