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How can you ensure a safe implementation and use of vehicles as well as services that do not have a driver in the vehicle who is responsible for the control at all times? SAFER's research on how remote driving can be used in a safe and efficient way is increasing with a new project, REDO.

In the project knowledge will be built and opportunities created in the emerging field of remote operation of road vehicles. The project aims to support deployment of new services to market and make new applications of automation possible. The main results from the project will be tools, methods and demonstrations of remote operation of vehicles, as well as advice and overview on regulation and laws.

Maytheewat Aramrattana, project leader for REDO says:

“As future vehicles may not have a driver inside them, being able to control a vehicle from outside is one way to support the operation of those vehicles and ensure safety. This is challenging from both legal and technical perspectives, which will be considered in this project”.

Tests in simulators
The project will include work to create an experimental platform in a simulator to gather knowledge about the challenges for a driver in a teleoperated vehicle. There will be experiments on e.g. latency of feedbacks, type of task like crossings lane-change, presentation of requirements for the equipment; e.g. a camera with 180 degrees view and bird perspective is likely needed.

Also, requirements on driver feedback and vehicles during teleoperation will be included in the research. In this work, the Integrated Transport Research Lab (ITRL) experimental vehicle (RCV-E) with its traffic control tower and Vehicle Dynamics motion platform will be used. Driving feedback models will be developed as well as vehicle control strategies.
The project will develop a reference system architecture for remote driving operation, that describe the overall system architecture and requirements for enabling remote control of vehicles. The system will be tested, validated, and demonstrate at various test sites, e.g. Kista Science City and AstaZero.

Review of laws and regulations
What are relevant laws and regulations that concern remote driving operation? What requirements should be linked to the remote driver and the teleoperated system respectively? These research questions will also be addressed in the project with the aim to review existing regulation in Sweden and to find some international examples to identify potential regulatory obstacles for remote driving on public roads. Interviews and workshops for refinement of current existing proposed definitions in relation to state-of-the-art knowledge on remote driving operation will be arranged. A proposal for possible new and changed regulation that supports transition to new services and systems will be finally also developed.

The project, which is funded by FFI, and has a total budget of SEK 20 million (with 10 million support from Vinnova), is led by Maytheewat Aramrattana, VTI. There will be two doctoral students working in the project. SAFER partners are NEVS, CEVT and VTI. Einride, Ericsson, Ictech, KTH and Voysys also participate in the project. The project will be associated to the project portfolio for Systems for accident prevention and automated driving.