Why doesn't the self-driving tech hand off control to a remote driver if the internet connection is good enough and there is enough warning?
Even with a couple seconds notice a primed human could take the wheel and do the right thing when the sensors aren't making sense.
There is no "primed" human on the line or you might as well just have a driver. And leaving aside issues of controlling remotely, you're probably talking on the order of minutes for someone to establish situational awareness, figure out what's going on, and take control. Which may be fine for something like Onstar but not for time-critical vehicle control.
- <40ms (round trip) is not really noticeable
- 40-~80ms is driveable
- 80-150ms is getting difficult
- 150-250ms you're overcorrecting all the time
- 250ms+ is completely undriveable
That's not trying to avoid sudden obstacles, that's just making turns etc that you already intended to make. Avoiding anything sudden would be impossible much earlier. I agree remote control over Internet will never happen.
And I imagine that in a large percentage of cases the car's sensors might indicate potential danger with enough advance warning for the remote driver to take over.
The operators will have a map on which they click to set the vehicule's destination, and the console will show what will be the exact path of the car, and ask for confirmation.