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Up to five self-driving vehicles can be safely monitored by one person, according to new research from Coventry University
Training people to intervene remotely if an issue occurs is essential for safety and reliability as self-driving vehicle trials increase across the UK.
This particular remote oversight is suited for use in services such as driverless buses, delivery vehicles and robotaxis, where one person monitors multiple vehicles as they follow fixed routes.
By observing several vehicles simultaneously, efficiency can be improved, costs reduced, and the risk of accidents minimised, provided it is understood how many vehicles one person can safely supervise without becoming overwhelmed or losing focus.
Researchers from Coventry University’s Research Centre for Future Transport and Cities began researching this limit by asking experienced drivers with limited monitoring experience to watch between three and nine synthetic self-driving cars on screens in a simulator control room, mimicking setups planned for future transport networks.
The operators were asked to observe the cars across various scenarios without interfering with the driving, only stepping in when something appeared to be wrong.
The study tested how quickly and accurately participants responded to potential issues and any difficulty they experienced in the task.
The results showed that operators were most effective when monitoring five vehicles, as this allowed them to react quickly and stay alert without being overwhelmed. It took, on average, 13 seconds to respond, which is about how long it takes to fully evaluate a situation before acting.
The operator's performance remained steady when observing between five and seven cars, but dropped when they had to watch nine. When monitoring just three vehicles, it was found that some operators intervened too often, suggesting the task was not challenging enough and led to over-alertness.
Participants reported that clear and timely information from the vehicles helped them to make decisions, but that too many messages became distracting. This feedback suggests that alternative information delivery methods, such as audio or voice alerts, could enhance focus and response times.
Professor Stewart Birrell, director of the Research Centre for Future Transport and Cities, said: “We’re proud to have provided insights that could support the safe rollout of connected and automated vehicles. This study was essential for understanding what remote supervision might look like in the real world. We found that five vehicles are enough to keep operations efficient without overwhelming the human operator."
“Having this knowledge and insight is critical if we want these systems to work in busy places like cities, where one person might need to keep an eye on several vehicles at once.” 
Read the study here: Overloaded, underloaded or in control: How many automated vehicles can one person supervise? – ScienceDirect







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