An Agent-Based discrete event simulation of teleoperated driving in freight Transport: The fleet sizing problem

• Development of a novel decision-support framework for modeling road frieght transport focusing on labor cost. • Seemless integration with a multi-agent system (MASS-GT) for realistic freight tour generation, enhancing modeling fidelity. • Identificaiton of optimal teleoperator-to-vehicle ratios to find minimum labor-cost configuration per required service levle. • Teleoperator-to-vehicle ratios as low as 0.6 shown to achieve zero-delay operations, yielding at least 40% labor cost. • Allowing minor delays, ratios of 0.4 are feasible, potentially saving up to 60% in teleoperation labor costs. Teleoperated driving complements automated driving and acts as transitional technology towards full automation. An economic advantage of teleoperated driving in logistics operations lies in managing fleets with fewer teleoperators compared to vehicles with in-vehicle drivers. This alleviates growing truck driver shortage problems in the logistics industry and save costs. However, a trade-off exists between the teleoperator-to-vehicle (TO/V) ratio and the service level of teleoperation. This study designs a simulation framework to explore this trade-off generating multiple performance indicators as proxies for teleoperation service level. By applying the framework, we identify factors influencing the trade-off and optimal TO/V ratios under different scenarios. Our case study on road freight tours in the Netherlands reveals that for any operational settings, a TO/V ratio below one can manage all freight truck tours without delay, while one represents the current situation. The minimum TO/V ratio for zero-delay operations is never above 0.6, implying a minimum of 40% teleoperation labor cost saving. For operations where a small delay is allowed, TO/V ratios as low as 0.4 are shown to be feasible, which indicates potential savings of up to 60%. This confirms great promise for a positive business case for the teleoperated driving as a service.