Researchers at the University of Warwick have revealed that even as robotaxi systems approach Level 4 autonomy, remote human operators remain indispensable to maintain safety in edge cases and unexpected scenarios. As reported by Future Transport News, At InCabin Europe 2025, Siddartha Khastgir and Soyeon Kim argued that without layered remote monitoring, assistance, and intervention, autonomous systems cannot reliably navigate real-world uncertainty.
They detailed that while remote monitoring and assistance roles are somewhat understood, the leap to full remote driving introduces significant challenges. Technical issues such as latency in video/controls, lack of physical feedback, unclear liability in emergencies, regulatory ambiguity, and operator human-factors like maintaining vigilance and managing workload and situational awareness all complicate the roll-out of fully driverless services. The researchers call for human factors to be built into the design from the ground up, not added later as an afterthought.