Don’t worry about it! He is currently steering a (real) rental car through the traffic on the screen

Anyone who has ever rented a car knows the hassle: the vehicle must be picked up at the rental company’s location X and returned to the same or a different rental company location.

But in the future, rental cars must arrive at our home or at the place where they are ordered. And there isn’t even a human in it anymore.

And in the US, the future has already arrived.

German start-up Vay sees teledriving as an alternative to autonomous driving and has now launched a corresponding service in Las Vegas, although it is still quite geographically limited. Europe should follow suit.

What does “teledriving” mean?

The Berlin company Vay is launching a rental car service in the American desert city of Las Vegas where the car is delivered remotely to customers. Anyone who orders a rental car then gets behind the wheel – and at the end of the journey can park the vehicle themselves or hand it back to a so-called teledriver.

Teledrivers are Vay employees who drive the cars remotely from the computer screen via mobile communication – they do this by sitting in front of different screens at the Teledrive station:

How do you order a rental car?

Via smartphone app. The Vay app for iPhone (iOS) is available in Apple’s US app store. The Android version will follow, the company will inform you on request.

How much is it?

You will be billed every minute, as Vay announced when the service launched on Wednesday. Driving costs 30 dollar cents per minute and during stops for shopping, for example, 3 dollar cents per minute are charged.

How safe is that?

Vay worked on the technology for about five years and equipped the used Kia cars with, among other things, extra cameras and control technology. The price for this is loud Vay co-founder and boss Thomas von der Ohe in the four-digit range per vehicle.

Which vehicle is controlled remotely?

This apparently involves a fleet of electric cars, specifically fully electric Kia Niro EVs, as per media reports. There is no information about the vehicle models used on the Vay company website.

Does that also exist in Europe?

No. Not yet.

“Parallel to the launch in the US, the approval process in Germany continues,” says Vay.

In the autumn of 2021, a partnership was entered into with the city of Hamburg with the aim of introducing Germany’s first remote-controlled mobility service there.

It is not known when the official launch will take place. Since 2022, the start-up has had an exemption from the Hamburg authorities to drive a car on certain public roads without a safety driver on board.

Where does this lead?

In Las Vegas, Vay is initially launching with “a handful” of vehicles in the city’s university district and plans to gradually expand the service’s availability. The goal is to provide customers with a vehicle within five minutes on average.

The co-founder of Vay sees new business opportunities for the future as more and more vehicles will not only have sufficient cameras, but also digital control technology straight from the factory. This means that only the transmission technology for teledriving needs to be added.

Practical example: Then you can imagine that a teledriver takes you home in your own car after a restaurant visit. Vay is in talks with car manufacturers, Von der Ohe said.

Sources

With material from the Keystone-SDA news agency

(dsc)