Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) submitted a list of inquiries in letters to seven American businesses developing autonomous vehicle technology in February. In particular, he wanted to know how frequently remote workers’ input is used in the vehicles run by Aurora, May Mobility, Motional, Nuro, Tesla, Waymo, and Zoox. According to the findings of Markey’s probe, which were made public on Tuesday, they all declined to comment.
The data released by Markey’s office is the most recent illustration of how reluctant autonomous car manufacturers are to disclose specifics about how they actually operate, even though they are all testing this technology on public roads.
The AV businesses’ employment of [remote assistance operators] to help steer their AVs has shown a startling lack of transparency, according to this investigation.In its report, Markey’s office stated, “The inquiry revealed a patchwork of safety measures across the business, with significant diversity in operator credentials, reaction times, and offshore personnel, all without any federal regulations governing these operations.
Markey stated on Tuesday that he is “working on legislation to place severe guardrails on AV companies’ use of remote operators” and that he is urging the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to look into these businesses’ use of remote help workers.
Every company listed has been contacted by TechCrunch.Nuro and Waymo declined to comment.May Mobility and Aurora expressed gratitude for collaborating with Markey’s office. Requests for comment from the others were not answered.
Following a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on the future of selfdriving cars in February, Markey began his research.Waymo’s chief safety officer, Mauricio Peña, discussed during the hearing how the company’s vehicles occasionally require assistance from “remote assistance” personnel when they become trapped in challenging or unexpected situations.Peña also disclosed that the Philippines is home to almost half of Waymo’s remote support employees.
Over the years, autonomous car manufacturers have occasionally discussed these kind of remote assistance services.However, because the technology was still in its early stages of development or testing, those discussions were frequently theoretical.
The focus on these businesses’ whole operations has increased since many of them have commercially deployed robotaxis or, in Aurora’s case, self-driving semi-trucks.
Markey wrote to those seven businesses after the hearing to request additional details on their remote activities.His agency asked each company 14 questions, such as how frequently remote workers provide instruction to autonomous vehicles, how large these teams are, where they are situated, how they are licensed, and what security measures are in place.
The responses from the firms, which you can read in full here, differ greatly.Waymo and May Mobility specifically said that this is “private business information,” therefore none of them addressed the question of how frequently their remote employees are required to provide assistance to the AVs. The question was left out of Tesla’s reply letter. The business eliminated its North American communications team years ago, though it is unclear why.
In its letter, Waymo stated that the amount of help requests per mile that its vehicles send to remote workers has “materially decreased” as a result of enhancements to its self-driving system, but company provided no details or evidence to support this assertion. According to the business, the self-driving technology handles the “vast majority of queries” that its robotaxis submit to remote assistance personnel “before an agent even offers an answer.
Additionally, only Waymo acknowledged employing remote helpers from abroad.Markey’s office stated on Tuesday that a “driver’s license in a foreign area is not a replacement for passing a U.S. driver’s license exam, as the regulations of the road will almost definitely vary by region,” despite the company’s claims that it ensures these employees have local driver’s licenses.
With the exception of Tesla, every company stated that they either do not permit remote help workers to operate these autonomous vehicles directly or do not have the capability to do so.In the meantime, Tesla stated that its remote assistance employees “are authorized to momentarily acquire direct vehicle control as the ultimate escalation move after all other potential intervention steps have been exhausted.
According to Tesla, the remote operator cannot drive the car faster than 10 miles per hour, and this can only occur while a vehicle in its pilot fleet is traveling at two miles per hour or less.
The company stated to Markey’s office, “This feature enables Tesla to quickly move a car that may be in a compromising position, thereby eliminating the need to wait for a first responder or Tesla field professional to manually remove the vehicle.
Waymo has recently come under fire for this, and during a hearing last month, San Francisco city officials asked pointed concerns over the company’s reliance on first responders to move trapped robotaxis.As TechCrunch recently revealed, Waymo does have a specific “roadside help” crew that is distinct from its remote assistance employees. However, Markey’s investigation did not concentrate on this aspect of Waymo’s business.
These businesses did provide some more information to Markey’s office.His report details the latency associated with these remote assistance interactions (which varies by company, with May Mobility reporting the longest worstcase figure of 500 milliseconds), how some of these businesses attempt to prevent employee fatigue, and what security measures they take to safeguard the data under their supervision.
For years, autonomous car manufacturers have struggled to find solutions to these problems. However, Markey’s office will not be the last to request—or demand—more information given the numerous upcoming commercial installations.
The company’s replies have been incorporated into this story.
Leave feedback about this