The permits from the California Department of Motor Vehicles for testing autonomous cars with remote operators could be issued as early as April 2. Spectrum.ieee.org photo by Mark Harris.
Remote control for autonomous cars already used by military and NASA
Autonomous cars that can be assisted by a remote human operator instead of a fallback driver in the driver’s seat may be tested on California roads as early as April, according to the California Department of Motor Vehicles.
The system would allow a remote operator to take control of a vehicle if the car’s autonomous system encountered problems. Companies including Nissan, Waymo, Zook, Phantom Auto and Starsky Robotics have been developing the technology.
“We think we have the ultimate backup system – which is a human,” Elliot Katz, co-founder of Phantom Auto told Reuters. Last month at the CES technology conference, Phantom Auto showed how cars driving in Las Vegas could be remotely controlled from a location in California, over 500 miles away.
A number of automakers are rushing to develop self-driving cars, including General Motors and the Waymo unit of tech giant Alphabet. If companies are approved and ready to deploy the remote monitor technology by April, it could mark the first time these vehicles would be on public roads without physical drivers present.
Lawmakers deciding the fate of self-driving cars could be reassured by the technology, according to Katz. US Senators Diane Feinstein of California and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut have been concerned about the safeguards in an autonomous vehicle bill that is currently stalled in the Senate.
In a January Senate hearing, Zoox CEO Tim Kentley-Klay testified that “teleoperations” technology would be used in the overall system of his company.
“When your model is to have autonomous vehicles deployed as a for-hire service in cities, you are still going to need a command center in that city that has a human-in-the-loop oversight of the fleet, both to deal with vehicles if they have an issue but also to deal with customers if they need help,” Kentley-Klay said.
Early adopters of this technology could include ride-hailing services looking to increase the number of paying customers while they eliminate paid backup drivers traveling in the car as well.
According to Reuters, the remote control technology is already being used by NASA and the military and is seen as a way to quicken the commercial rollout of autonomous cars.
The new regulations in California are expected to be approved later this month and, after a month-long public notice period, could take effect in April.
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