Newly founded Rheinmetall subsidiary MIRA GmbH is pooling the expertise of multiple Group companies in offer a modular, scalable system of certified hardware and software for teleoperated driving—the remote-control of vehicles on public roads. MIRA is aalready able to meet the challenges facing local public transport, logistics and industry by leveraging efficient new made-to-measure models for mobility.

The current state of the art in autonomous driving requires human interaction in numerous “edge cases”. For the foreseeable future, dealing with such situations will continue to require a combination of human and artificial intelligence. Teleoperation supplies the technological basis for this, making it possible today to turn sustainable mobility solutions into reality, MIRA says.

MIRA enables the physical separation of driver and vehicle through teleoperation. This means that a vehicle can be controlled from an operator’s console anywhere. Visual information on the traffic situation, transmitted via a 4G/5G network, lets the driver operate the vehicle safely. MIRA teleoperation technology meets the most stringent standards for functional reliability and cybersecurity.

MIRA technology lends itself to many sectors and companies that want to optimize their logistic and transport processes efficiently and safely. Applications range from the control of on-demand shuttles to summoning and returning car sharing vehicles, right through to monitoring and controlling large fleets of driverless vehicles. MIRA also offers operators of critical infrastructure and public transport companies a basis for efficiently redesigning their logistic and mobility concepts.

Teleoperation is particularly well suited to two applications in industrial settings and public space:

Teleoperation with self-driving vehicles. The teleoperator can assist a self-driving, driverless vehicle in the event of a problem such as a system failure or if an unsolvable driving task arises, requiring the operator to take over control of the vehicle. This can take place indirectly by evaluating and approving an alternative route recommended by the vehicle or through corresponding instructions from the teleoperator. If necessary, moreover, the teleoperator can directly take over control of the vehicle, including steering, braking, and accelerating, before subsequently reverting to automatic operation.

Teleoperation therefore meets the legal requirement of technical supervision for self-driving autonomous vehicles.

Teleoperation for non-self-driving vehicles. The teleoperator controls the vehicle the entire time directly from an operator’s stand. Already today, physical separation of the driver and vehicle can result in significantly greater driver efficiency with non-self-driving vehicles, enabling optimum operation of vehicles especially for longer distances (logistics, first mile/last mile) as well as optimized delivery of rental cars and car sharing vehicles.

Pilot project for public roads. MIRA already offers teleoperations technology that conforms to German traffic safety regulations for cars, trucks, and special vehicles. An initial trial for demonstrating and evaluating realistic customer models is currently taking place in the industrial port of Düsseldorf. This pilot project is being supported by district-level regulatory authorities, the City of Düsseldorf and TÜV Rheinland as technical experts. Additional operating areas are now in preparation.