Teleoperation with a Real-time Digital Twin

Abstract

One of the state-of-the-art trends in intelligent transportation systems research is the development of real-time digital twin technologies and their applications for increased safety and autonomy on the roads. The areas of deployment also include test tracks, logistic yards, factories, hospitals, airports, railways, and any such constrained and managed environment where transportation automation may be of benefit. While applying the same principles as for open road networks, managed environments allow the efficient deployment of optimally distributed sensory infrastructure while also observing certain simplifying assumptions (constraints on the expected scenarios), both factors leading to earlier adoption and ROI. In the case of fleets or swarms of automated vehicles, certain cost savings can be enacted by recovering the environmental model exclusively from infrastructure sensors. However, such a setup is never exempt from the necessity of occasional manual intervention performed by a teleoperator. In our current paper we explore system and HMI designs that would facilitate safe and efficient on-demand teleoperation functionality in such a system.