Tesla robotaxis can’t even operate without a human on board a small number of unattended robotaxis without safety operators. If you’re a fan of self-driving cars, it reflects a stark fact of life about the current state of autonomous vehicles: the companies that drive them still don’t trust them on the road.
But Tesla seems unique among its competitors in the extent to which its cars rely on people from time to time. That is, they occasionally hand over control to them absolutely.
Karen Steakley, Tesla’s director of public policy and business development, recently revealed this letter to Senator Ed MarkeyThe Democrat representing Massachusetts (as first reported Wired). Steakley writes that human operators are “authorized to temporarily take direct control of the vehicle as a last escalation maneuver after all other possible intervention measures have been exhausted.”
Competitors like Waymo have said they allow people to play a role in the operation of a car on the road, but that they play a more limited role and are at pains to make that distinction. Waymo’s description of what went wrong last year when his vehicles were seen with a widespread meltdown during a lightening in San Francisco for example, he touched on this.
The issue is that many Waymo vehicles are encountering blacked-out four-way traffic lights, and Waymo’s “fleet response” section, is what we now know located mainly in the Philippines.
According to Waymo’s online public relations materials, instead of, say, “steering” the vehicle remotely, perhaps with a joystick, fleet responders use camera tapes and 3D Waymo presents and provides feedback on the vehicle’s position in its environment. They may simply have to tap the answer to the question Is the street I want to turn closed? Or they may suggest a new course of action, such as pulling into the driveway to let others pass to get out of the traffic jam.
They do it in a slightly flattering way telling a unit what to do in a real-time strategy video gameWaymo insists that the Waymo Driver — the hardware and software system that drives the car — can reject human input, meaning it never relinquishes executive control.
Steakley makes it clear that Tesla is missing out on Waymo’s threats to completely take over car autonomy. Tesla is hiring “remote assistance operators” (RAOs) in Austin, Texas and Palo Alto, California to “immediately move a vehicle that may be in a compromised condition,” Tesla said in a letter to Markey. He explained that a human can “temporarily take control of a vehicle” and move it remotely at speeds of up to 10 miles per hour.
This only happens when “direct access is provided by Tesla (automated driving system).” Although he also notes that if the driver wants help, they can communicate with the Tesla RAO “via two-way voice.”
According to Steakley, RAOs also:
- have “a US driver’s license valid for at least 3 years.”
- “Maintain a license and a clean driving record throughout their employment.”
- “Get a Criminal Background and Motor Vehicle Registration Check”
- “Pass a US Department of Transportation drug test”
Markey released a report on Tuesdayafter receiving similar letters in response Questions about remote control of these vehicles are not only from Tesla and Waymo, but also from five other competitors. Markey believes the responses reflect “a patchwork of safety practices across the industry, with significant variations in operator qualifications, response times and overseas staffing, with no federal standards governing all of these operations.”
Gizmodo contacted Tesla and Waymo about these letters and Marki’s report. We’ll update this article if we hear back.
