Concept of a Control Center for an Automated Vehicle Fleet

Automated driving has started to be used commercially for individual mobility and public transport in recent years. As soon as automated driving is commercially exploited, automated vehicle fleets require assistance which can be provided by an operational control center as known from air traffic, public transport or process technology. The need for assistance is shown by two aspects. The aspects are human interaction and efficiency of journeys. Based on that, a control center is proposed to address those aspects. Further, a concept for a control center is derived. For that, the methods of interviewing experts, observation and literature research are used. Specific tasks for the control center are defined. These tasks were examined and categorized into three service categories. The three service categories are emergency service, fleet service and teleoperation service. Due to the categories, future-built control centers will be scalable and adaptable to its demand. Whereas two of three categories are well covered by industry or research, the teleoperation service as the essential problem solving technique needs further development. Moreover, further research will be required to quantify the control center demand.