Quentin Gadmer's thesis defense

Despite the many recent technical advances, the deployment of autonomous trains on tracks in commercial traffic will not be possible immediately in all situations and under all circumstances. In situations where the train cannot be driven by the automaton, either for external reasons (presence of objects on the tracks, poor visibility, bad weather, etc.) or due to the limitations of current safety standards, it may be necessary for a human operator to take over the driving duties.

In a context where an agent capable of driving the train is no longer present on board, we see telecontrol as a potential takeover solution. The (partial or complete) remote transfer of authority must enable a safe transition, which implies a certain number of constraints to be considered, as well as good situational awareness on the part of the agent taking over control.

In this context, we consider telecontrol as a potential solution.

The particular conditions of telecontrol naturally have a major impact on situational awareness, but they also imply other constraints such as latency, communication errors and losses, or a reduced sense of presence.

This work aims to establish and apply a model of cooperation between the human operator and the train during such a transfer of authority to propose interfaces and assistance systems adapted to the operator's activity and needs.