Methods and systems for automatically controlling a vehicle are disclosed. In one embodiment, a system includes an actuator configured to control one or more vehicle driving characteristics, at least one vehicle sensor configured to measure a vehicle characteristic, a remote assistant in communication with the vehicle, and a controller in communication with the actuator, the at least one vehicle sensor, and the remote assistant, the controller being programmed with an automated driving system control algorithm and configured to determine whether a failsafe condition has occurred based on sensor data from the at least one vehicle sensor, receive a control signal from the remote assistant, and automatically control the actuator based on the control signal.