Teleoperation of Highly Automated Vehicles in Public Transport: State of the Art and Requirements for Future Remote-Operation Workstations

Abstract

For quite some time, full automation of driving tasks will not be completely feasible in all situations. The teleoperation of highly automated vehicles (SAE 4) could pave the way to use the benefits of driving automatization and bridging current technological deficits while ensuring safety and legal compliance. This paper reviews the state of the art in the remote-operation of vehicles with a focus on human-machine interaction (HMI). It specifies the context of use and lists potential scenarios that teleoperation could resolve, as well as requirements that need to be fulfilled. Furthermore, existing HMI concepts for teleoperation are reviewed before a novel HMI concept for a teleoperation workstation is described. It will be located in a public transport control center to remote-operate on-demand shuttle buses as a part of public transport. Finally, the process of evaluating and refining the concept to enable its setup as an actual workstation is outlined.