United States Department of Transportation
i
Concepts of Operations for Autonomous Vehicle Dispatch Operations
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2021-05-01
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[PDF-3.53 MB]
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Edition:Final Report (May 2018-May 2020)
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Abstract:The future of surface transportation will likely include fleets of autonomous vehicles (AVs), both passenger and freight. Such futuristic operations will require remote monitoring of individual and fleets of AVs through an operations center staffed by personnel that resemble present-day surface transportation dispatchers. This report outlines three new functionalities unique to AV dispatchers as well as five broad Concepts of Operation (CONOPs) that illustrate how such AV remote management could develop, including Original Equipment Manufacturing (OEM) AV Dispatch Support, Robo-Taxi Dispatch, Autonomous Trucking Dispatch, Public Transportation AV Dispatch, and State/Regional AV Management and Dispatch. To further understand implications of AV dispatch tasking on dispatcher workload, a case study was developed that examined how AVs could impact a regional dispatch center. A dispatcher workload discrete event simulation yielded several models that examined both single and two-person dispatcher models under both typical and emergency operations. These models indicate that even with minimal new tasking caused by the arrival of AVs, the additional workload would likely overload a single dispatcher, even under a normal operational tempo, requiring additional personnel. Results also suggest that in order to ensure dispatchers are not bored and distracted, dispatchers may need to share tasks instead of specializing across tasks. Understanding that these results are only specific to this case study, this study demonstrates why companies and agencies anticipating the integration of AVs in their transportation networks need to build such models in order to determine how to safely develop and staff futuristic AV dispatch centers.
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