Self-driving vehicle developers don’t usually love talking about “teleoperation”—when a human guides or drives robot cars remotely. It can feel like a dirty secret. Shouldn’t an autonomous vehicle operate, well, autonomously?All of these companies have had teleoperation, but there is a difference between nudging a car that has pulled over and taking over at 30mph.
But experts say teleoperations are, at least right now, a critical part of any robot taxi service, including Tesla's Robotaxi. The tech, though impressive, is still in development, and the autonomous systems still need humans to guide them through less-common and especially sticky road situations. Plus, a bedrock principle of safety engineering is that every system needs a backup—doubly so for new robotic ones that involve two-ton EVs driving themselves on public roads.
Tuesday, June 10, 2025
You Can't Do It, My Friends
Even with one teleoperator per vehicle (lol), you can't do safety interventions at driving speed.