Project

Full title: REMOte operator state monitoring for traffic SAFEty

Purpose and goal

The purpose of the project is to gain an understanding about the needs, feasibility and development of a remote operator monitoring system (RMS) adapted from a state-of-the-art driver monitoring system. The project closely ties to traffic safety in future transportation systems. The operators of future automated vehicle fleets will have a key role in foreseeing and mitigating negative impacts of automated vehicles in traffic. They will also have a pivotal role in reactive safety, managing accidents and incidents both on the level of individual vehicles and with a birds-eye view to minimize and coordinate traffic system disturbances in case of critical events. For remote operators to make fast and correct decisions when needed, operator fatigue, cognitive state and situational awareness are important aspects of traffic safety, which is what will be addressed by RMS. RMS may also have an organizational impact, e.g. enable data driven understanding of how to plan working shifts and staffing requirements.

Planned activities

The project will organize four half-day workshops. WS1 (hosted by Smart Eye) will dive into current SoA capabilities of DMS and CMS systems. WS2 (hosted by CDE and Einride) will map current and future characteristics of remote operator work. WS3 (hosted by RISE) will analyze the results from WS1 and WS2 and pinpoint the gap between current DMS/CMS and future needs in RMS, outlining a plan for research and development needs of RMS. WS4 (hosted by RISE and Astazero) will disseminate results and invite for discussions across a broader audience in the SAFER community. The outcomes of each workshop will be documented in a report. The project will also deliver a plan for a larger subsequent project proposal including research questions, an outline of work packages with planned content, and expected results. For dissemination, the project will attend SAFER Research Day, lunch seminar, or similar activity to disseminate results.

Expected results

• Development of a “Swedish remote operation cluster” by fostering collaboration among stakeholders from the SAFER community
• Knowledge about the needs of remote operator monitoring and RMS as a new type of system for improving traffic safety.
• Knowledge about the conceptual and technical feasibility of RMS.
• Draft proposal for a subsequent larger project including research questions, work packages and expected results.
• A report, summarizing the workshop results, elucidating the traffic safety impact of RMS on remote operations of automated vehicles, and describing the technical feasibility to build on DMS/CMS to develop RMS as a future safety system.