TUM Teleoperation: Open Source Software for Remote Driving and Assistance of Automated Vehicles

Abstract-- T eleoperation is a key enabler for future mobility, supporting Automated V ehicles in rare and complex scenarios beyond the capabilities of their automation. Despite ongoing research, no open source software currently combines Remote Driving, e.g., via steering wheel and pedals, Remote Assistance through high-level interaction with automated driving software modules, and integration with a real-world vehicle for practical testing. T o address this gap, we present a modular, open source teleoperation software stack that can interact with an automated driving software, e.g., Autoware, enabling Remote Assistance and Remote Driving. The software features standardized interfaces for seamless integration with various real-world and simulation platforms, while allowing for flexible design of the human-machine interface. The system is designed for modularity and ease of extension, serving as a foundation for collaborative development on individual software components as well as realistic testing and user studies. T o demonstrate the applicability of our software, we evaluated the latency and performance of different vehicle platforms in simulation and real-world. Teleoperation enables remote support of robots over mobile networks, allowing humans to handle tasks that cannot be fully automated. In the field of intelligent vehicles, tele-operation has gained traction, with companies like Fernride and V ay deploying remote driving solutions for logistics and car sharing, gathering significant funding [1, 2]. Tele-operation also supports Automated V ehicles (A Vs) during disengagements, as seen with Waymo and Zoox, which rely on Remote Operators (ROs) when A Vs cannot resolve a scenario [3, 4].