As Robotaxi Rides Begin, We Still Don’t Know the Mystery of Tesla’s Human Helpers

Developers of autonomous vehicles Do not generally like to speak of “teleoperation” – when a human guide or drives remotely of robot cars. It may look like a dirty secret. Shouldn’t an autonomous vehicle work, well, independently?

But experts say that teleoperations are, at least at the moment, an essential part of any Robot taxi service, including Tesla Robotaxis. Technology, although impressive, is still in development, and autonomous systems still need humans to guide them through less common and above all sticky road situations. In addition, a principle of foundation of safety engineering is that each system needs a backup – doubt for new robotics which involve two -ton electric vehicles that are driving on public roads.

And yet, a few days before the launch by Tesla of its long -awaited (and a lot of delay) Robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, the public still does not know much about its teleoperation systems. Tesla a published a job linked to teleoperations When he indicates that the role will be responsible for the development of the application “that our remote operators use to interface with our cars and robots”, an application where these operators will be “transported in the world of the device using a advanced VR platform which allows them to perform complex and complex tasks”.

Alarming, several government spokespersons – representing the city of Austin, the state of Texas and the best regulator of the United States in terms of road safety – did not answer questions about Tesla’s teleoperations. Indeed, Austin and Texas Department of Transportation have returned all our questions to Tesla technology to the company itself. Tesla, who dissolved her public relations team in 2020, did not answer Wired questions.

Last month, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the country’s road safety dog, wrote A Letter to Tesla asking questions, among other things How or if Tesla planned to use teleoperations. How should its human staff monitor, supervise or even intervene when its systems are on the road? The government has asked the company to answer by June 19, which will be After The service is supposed to be launched on June 12, according to reports Bloomberg Earlier this month. The NHTSA would not repeatedly respond to Wired’s requests on what it knows about Tesla’s teleoperations.

THE Los Angeles Times reported that humans used teleoperations to manipulate the Optimus robot during a first “cybercab” event in Los Angeles, and when Optimus showed his new hands a month later, catching a tennis ball in the air, engineer of the company recognized That humans have also used teleoperations. The company also has a permit to test autonomous vehicles in California with a driver while driving. The state has much stricter rules than Texas, and need A kind of “communication link” between the test of vehicles and the remote operators, it is therefore likely that the company has a kind of system.

Although I do not know exactly how Tesla’s teleoperations will work in the city, the spokesperson for Austin Transportation and Public Works Cristal Corrales wrote in an email: “The city works with av [autonomous vehicle] Companies before and during the deployment to obtain training for the first stakeholders, establish expectations in continuous communication and share information on infrastructure and events. “Texas spokesperson Department of Transportation, Laura Butterbrodt, said in a press release sent by email:” Texas law allows tests and AV operations on Texas roads as long as they meet the same safety and insurance requirements as all other vehicles on the road. “