A User-Centered Teleoperation GUI for Automated Vehicles: Identifying and Evaluating Information Requirements for Remote Driving and Assistance

TL;DR

The paper addresses the design of a user-centered Graphical User Interface (GUI) for teleoperation of Automated Vehicles (AVs) to support Remote Driving and Remote Assistance while preserving operator situational awareness. It combines expert interviews with a $N=9$ sample to identify essential informational elements and an online study with $N=36$ participants to compare static and dynamic GUI variants, demonstrating that the dynamic GUI improves usability and reduces task time. The results reveal mode-specific information needs and show that the dynamic approach offers meaningful usability gains, though user experience (UEQ) indicates room for improvement and real-vehicle validation is needed. The work provides a promising framework for standardized teleoperation interfaces and emphasizes phased information display, with future work focusing on real-vehicle integration and user customization.

Abstract

Teleoperation emerged as a promising fallback for situations beyond the capabilities of automated vehicles. Nevertheless, teleoperation still faces challenges, such as reduced situational awareness. Since situational awareness is primarily built through the remote operator's visual perception, the Graphical User Interface (GUI) design is critical. In addition to video feeds, supplemental informational elements are crucial - not only for the predominantly studied Remote Driving but also for the arising desk-based Remote Assistance concepts. This work develops a GUI for different teleoperation concepts by identifying key informational elements during the teleoperation process through expert interviews (N = 9). Following this, a static and dynamic GUI prototype is developed and evaluated in a click-dummy study (N = 36). Thereby, the dynamic GUI adapts the number of displayed elements according to the teleoperation phase. Results show that both GUIs achieve good System Usability Scale (SUS) ratings, with the dynamic GUI significantly outperforming the static version in both usability and task completion time. The User Experience Questionnaire (UEQ) score shows potential for improvement. To enhance the user experience, the GUI should be evaluated in a follow-up study that includes interaction with a real vehicle.

Figures (3)

• Figure S1: Empty Template of the Teleoperation Process with Five Predefined Sections and Predefined Actions in Blue-Bordered Boxes
• Figure S2: Designed gui during Teleoperation Mode (Waypoint Guidance)
• Figure S3: Designed gui Variant with Reduced Set of Display Elements during Autonomous Self-Driving for Dynamic Adaptation across the Teleoperation Process