Safety, Efficiency, and Mental Workload in Simulated Teledriving of a Vehicle as Functions of Camera Viewpoint

Teleoperation services are expected to operate on-road and often in urban areas. In current teleoperation applications, teleoperators gain a higher viewpoint of the environment from a camera on the vehicle's roof. However, it is unclear how this viewpoint compares to a conventional viewpoint in terms of safety, efficiency, and mental workload. In the current study, teleoperators (n = 148) performed driving tasks in a simulated urban environment with a conventional viewpoint (i.e., the simulated camera was positioned inside the vehicle at the height of a driver's eyes) and a higher viewpoint (the simulated camera was positioned on the vehicle roof). The tasks required negotiating road geometry and other road users. At the end of the session, participants completed the NASA-TLX questionnaire. Results showed that participants completed most tasks faster with the higher viewpoint and reported lower frustration and mental demand. The camera position did not affect collision rates nor the probability of hard braking and steering events. We conclude that a viewpoint from the vehicle roof may improve teleoperation efficiency without compromising driving safety, while also lowering the teleoperators' mental workload.