What Problem Are We Trying To Solve

This will quite possibly be the worst job ever devised.

Gradient Ventures, an early-stage venture fund within Google, is leading a $6 million investment in a new company that’s building software to let humans control cars remotely. Scotty Labs, a nine-person startup, works on “teleoperations,” an emerging slice of the autonomous vehicle business that may grow more critical as the field faces closer scrutiny.

California recently moved to let companies test driverless cars on public roads with remote human operators, starting in April. Scotty’s technology is designed for new regulatory environments like this. When a self-driving car finds itself in a tricky situation – stuck in snow, or behind a truck for instance – it alerts a trained operator in a call center who takes over.