There is still a long way to go before autonomous cars are ready for mass production, and this point in time seems to be getting farther and farther away with each passing year. The business model of the telefahr-company Vay should last at least as long. His car pick-up and delivery service works with a remote control, with which the ordered cars are to be steered to the customer from a control center full of screens, steering wheels and pedals.
With this type of remote control, which is intended to integrate a local driver into a car driving somewhere else, like a local person, one hopes to partially fulfill one of the main hopes of autonomous driving: the reduction in personnel. Vay has been trying this out for more than three years with remote-controlled electric cars on public roads in Berlin and Hamburg. The service should make the vehicle and parking space search superfluous and later become part of the Hamburger Verkehrsverbund (HVV).
The company is now announcing a milestone on the way to being approved as a driving service: In the future, its cars will be allowed to drive remotely on public roads in a predefined area in Hamburg-Bergedorf without a security driver. It is the first provider of its kind to receive this approval.
Exemption according to TÜV report
It is still an exceptional permit from the Hamburg Authority for Traffic and Mobility (BVM), granted after a positive report by TÜV SÜD, taking into account the ISO 26262 and ISO/SAE 21434 standards.
Anyone ordering a car in Hamburg-Bergedorf using an app will soon be able to have it parked in front of the door without a security driver. After the customer journey, it is also remotely controlled without a driver to the next customer, for charging, parking or the workshop.
Security against attacks from outside
The TÜV SÜD report had previously found that the system complied with ISO 26262 – the international standard for safety-related electrical and electronic (E/E) systems in road vehicles, which at Vay extends to the entire system including the tele-driving station. It must guarantee to a sufficient extent that the resistance forces occurring in real operation can be simulated to a sufficient extent for the driver. Only the acceleration and deceleration feedback is visualized, otherwise you would need a full simulator. The field of view recorded by cameras in the car is displayed on monitors, and noises around the car are transmitted quickly enough via microphones and headphones.
The new ISO/SAE 21434 standard for cyber security is also important in connection with remote-controlled driving. She demands that the Telefahr system must be protected against external attacks. At Vay, this is solved in such a way that all data is encrypted at all transmission points and the telemobile stations are technically secured in such a way that they can only be accessed by authorized personnel.
(fpi)
