It is possible for one person to safely monitor up to five self-driving vehicles at once, according to new research led by Coventry University.

As self-driving vehicle trials expand across the UK, having trained people to intervene remotely if something goes wrong is essential for both safety and reliability.

This kind of remote oversight is likely to be used for services such as driverless buses, delivery vehicles and robotaxis, where one person monitors several vehicles as they follow fixed routes. It doesn’t apply to private self-driving cars, where a driver would currently need to be in the vehicle and in control.