Teledriving firm launches commercial mobility service in Las Vegas

New alternative to market for autonomous driving

Berlin-based teledriving start-up has unveiled its first commercially available mobility service, enabled by remote driving in Las Vegas, Nevada. 

The cost-effective per-minute rental is an alternative approach to autonomous driving. The automotive-grade teledriving technology was developed and validated following industry standards for safe operations on public streets. 

Vay is the first company to drive cars without a person inside on public roads in Europe. 

With the removal of the safety driver in the US in November 2023, Vay became a pioneer in teledriving cars in both Europe and North America.

It works by professionally-trained teledrivers sat at a teledrive station with a steering wheel, pedals and other vehicle controls developed to meet automotive industry standards. 

The car surroundings are reproduced via camera sensors and transmitted to the screens of the teledrive station, while road traffic sounds like emergency vehicles and other warning signals are transmitted via microphones to the teledriver’s headphones.

Vay teledriven service was launched around the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) and the Arts District, following a few weeks of early access.

Users can order an electric car via the Vay app and the teledriver brings the car to the user, which is remotely driven from the teledrive center.

Thomas von der Ohe, co-founder and CEO of Vay, said: “After five years of developing our technology, we are bringing our vision to life in Las Vegas. Our convenient, affordable and sustainable door-to-door mobility service aims to free cities from parked cars and make them more liveable and greener.”

The service is currently only available to US users via the App store but the firm does have plans to launch in Hamburg soon, too.