Autonomous Vehicle Traffic Delay Incident and Rapid Response

Abstract: The paper describes the user experience of two autonomous vehicles (AV) or driverless (uncrewed) vehicle trips in Austin, TX, between June and July 2023. The characteristics of two trips from a common origin and destination (OD) pair are discussed. The two pre-programmed travel routes that the GM Cruise AV used generally were selected by predetermining the vehicle’s operational design domain (ODD) pickup and drop-off locations. The routes avoided the major arterial streets by traveling on alternative city streets with less complex traffic operations. However, they were not the most direct or shortest routes between the origin and destination. The paper focuses on a case study of two Cruise AVs involved in a significant traffic delay incident. The event procedure and the interpretation of the remote assistance provided by the AV fleet operations control center (OCC) to the two Cruise vehicles involved in an incident are thoroughly discussed. The incident caused by a group of illegally roadside-parked cars on a narrow street is described in detail, and the difficulty of the Remote Assistance role is evaluated in terms of how the AVs were guided through the special circumstance. This case study and the analysis illustrate that the extenuating circumstances of the incident and the difficulty of navigating around the blockage in the AV’s travel path provided a good and reasonable resolution of the incident, representing what is now being called “Remote Assistance” in recent SAE-recommended practice standards.