Effects of Temporal and Spatial Characteristics of Tasks on Operator Performance in Multi-Vehicle Remote Monitoring

With the prevalence of automated driving services, operators monitoring multiple vehicles in a remote control room are becoming popular. This study examined how two temporal task characteristics and one spatial characteristic shape attention allocation and performance in remote multi-vehicle monitoring. Thirty-five participants completed abstract monitoring tasks in an experiment. Their eye-tracking and physiological measures were collected. Detecting gradual-onset road events proved more challenging than detecting abrupt-onset ones. Notably, higher road event frequency facilitated better detection and kept operators engaged without sacrificing efficiency through longer inspection times. Visual inconsistency resulted in more fragmented scanning patterns among operators, and led to less efficient visual search across targets rather than a simple overall performance loss. These findings highlight the importance of designing event-aware and scenario-consistent interfaces. Such designs are essential to enhance remote operator engagement, facilitate faster detection of abrupt road events, and reduce search costs in future remote centers.