Now in August we learn that MIRA GmbH, a subsidiary of German automotive and arms manufacturing giant Rheinmetal AG is rolling out a pilot trial of just that very idea with its teleoperated driving system in Düsseldorf, Germany…

Wait, you must be asking—why is a remote operator needed for a self-driving car? Wouldn’t that make it, um, not self-driving? Good catch. The idea here is to utilize the remote driver as a backup in place of the human monitors currently employed by companies testing self-driving cars. Today, these drivers ride along, often in the driver’s seat, ready to intervene in case the machine does something unexpected or dangerous and control needs taken back from the software…

MIRA envisions a few initial use cases. In fully equipped self-driving cars, a remote human driver can remain “on call” in the event of an “unsolvable driving task” arising.