In recent weeks, we posted results of a survey showing that owners of premium vehicles want remote driving, and are willing to pay handsomely for it. With a couple of innovative premium carmakers already working to launch luxurious Remote Chauffeur services in serial production vehicles, we decided to share our perspective on some of the biggest questions we hear from OEMs.
You may be asking: How can carmakers actually launch remote driving? Wouldn’t remote driving require enormous additions to the car bill of materials (BOM)? Is it even legal?
The simple answer: launching remote driving requires only minor changes to premium vehicles. Furthermore, regulators in several locations already allow remote driving on mainstream consumer vehicles, and countries around the world are in the process of drafting supportive laws.
Read on for answers to these questions. And stay tuned to this blog for upcoming topics like a dive into the remote driving center and a deep dive into the survey responses from Chinese consumers.
Remote Driving: The Required Hardware Is Already On Board
Remote driving requires 4 key components on the vehicle:
- Cameras. Enough for a remote operator to have situational awareness. At least 4, preferably more.
- ECU. A simple CPU plus hardware encoder are needed for optimal performance.
- Modems. 2 modems are needed for redundancy and link resiliency.
- Safety mechanisms. Safe stop and redundancies are needed.
Here is the thing: premium vehicles offering the latest ADAS or autonomy functionality usually have all of these components on board. ADAS, parking, and “360 view” features introduce many cameras to the vehicle. The compute power needed for ADAS and infotainment is more than enough to support remote driving. Advanced ADAS systems already include safe stop capabilities, and many include the necessary mechanical redundancies. Overall, a modern premium vehicle already has so much advanced technology that remote driving barely adds extra cost!
The one exception is a second modem, as many vehicles only have one. A single extra modem is an inexpensive addition to the BOM - especially compared to the tremendous upside of launching a breakthrough innovative service that can generate thousands of dollars of revenue per car, per year.
As noted in our survey, owners of premium vehicles are highly drawn to remote chauffeur services - over 80% would use it. This group also places tremendous value on saving time and reducing headache: they are willing to pay over $62 an hour for remote driving services!
So we have a situation where only small BOM changes are needed for remote driving in premium vehicles, and the owners of premium vehicles really want remote driving. Sounds like a no-brainer business proposition.
Regulation: Solid and Growing Traction
On August 22, 2023, the Nevada State Legislature passed a law stating that “A person shall be deemed the operator of an alternative electronic transportation system vehicle if the person controls the vehicle, whether from the inside of the vehicle or from a remote location that is outside of the vehicle”.
Surprised? You may be even more surprised that Nevada was not the first state to explicitly allow remote driving! Florida, Utah, Louisiana, and Alabama all have laws explicitly supporting remote driving, while many other states have autonomous vehicle laws that implicitly allow remote driving.
This regulatory support, combined with state and local governments investing to bring new transportation technologies to their constituents, have made the USA the leader in deployment of remote driving technology.
On the other side of the Atlantic, the UK is taking a holistic approach unparalleled anywhere else in the world. Last year, the UK Law Commission wrapped up a two-year task force project on remote driving, soliciting input from across both industry and the public sector. As the UK Transport Minister said in publishing the report, “Remote driving is already being successfully used off-road in several industries and has huge potential to provide new services and safety features for road vehicles.”
This task force recommended specific exemption processes - since implemented - to enable companies to launch remote driving services immediately. Perhaps more importantly, it also provided a broad legal framework for how to encourage development of remote driving as an industry that delivers value while keeping the public safe.
All remote driving regulations have one thing in common: they require remote driving services to operate safely, and to adhere to existing road regulations. Based on our conversations with regulators around the world, we expect this approach to win out over time: remote driving services will deliver significant value for consumers, and regulators will focus on maintaining public safety.
So How Can You Get Started?
As the survey results showed, consumers see remote driving as highly complementary to autonomy, with 72% of respondents saying they would be more likely to buy a car with autonomy features if it also has remote driving.
Furthermore, remote driving can be deployed very broadly - essentially any urban road with cellular service. So it dramatically increases the value of any car that already has limited autonomous driving capabilities. OEMs seek technologies that easily scale across geographies, weather conditions, and traffic environments. Remote driving checks all those boxes: Metropolitan areas have strong cellular coverage. Human remote drivers can adapt just as in-car drivers can, as long as the wireless connection works - no retraining of AI models needed.
Remote driving is a breakthrough new service that will win over buyers. To deliver the most value to car owners at the lowest cost, remote driving will first launch in premium vehicles with the latest consumer ADAS and autonomy features. With this approach, carmakers will build a massive new luxury service while also driving adoption of advanced ADAS and autonomy.
To learn more about how to launch remote driving services with your vehicles, reach out to Ottopia today: info@ottopia.tech
