The collaborative project “Teleoperation”, supported by an NRP grant and just finalized, aimed to promote the deployment of automated and remotely controlled vehicles in Switzerland.

To date, around 15 automated passenger shuttles are in use in Switzerland. However, for technical and legal reasons, there still has to be a driver on board. Teleoperation allows now to remotely manage several automated vehicles by a person located in a teleoperation control center, who can inform the passengers and temporary take over control in case of a malfunction or unexpected stop.

With the Teleoperation project, the concept of teleoperation has been proven on technical, economic, social and legal aspects. The project was performed in collaboration with 6 companies from the transport sector, the Cluster Food and Nutrition and 4 academic partners. As main results, the project team developed autonomous mobility algorithms (perception, localization, trajectory planning), worked on safety and cybersecurity of teleoperation, and studied legal and social acceptance aspects. This interdisciplinary work allowed the establishment of the first remotely operated vehicle in Switzerland which was presented on May 18, 2021 to representatives of public transport, academic representants, regional and national politicians. The event was reported by more than 30 medias throughout Switzerland, including SRF, RTS and La Télé.

Now that the project has been completed, the interdisciplinary working group SwissMoves proposes to integrate operating teleoperation mode into specific and concrete applications, such as the realization of agricultural activities, the transport and/or delivery of goods, the autonomous management of buses or the construction of an ecosystem for the mobility of people and goods in a specific area.

If you are interested in automating and teleoperating your machines/vehicles or if you simply want to know more about the teleoperation solution, do not hesitate to contact Roland Scherwey (roland.scherwey@hefr.ch).

Discover main project results in the video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpNvfIxGyIU