Vay operates a so-called “remote driving” service, in which a car is driven remotely by a human rather than a computer.
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German startup Vay launched its so-called “remote driving” solution in the United States for the first time on Wednesday, putting the company in direct competition with better-funded and more valuable U.S. companies in mobile technology.
The company, which has so far secured $110 million in funding from investors including Swedish investment giant Kinnevik, US fund Coatue and French private equity fund Eurazeo, said its new service is now live in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Vay’s service will enable people to have their cars delivered directly to them by drivers in remote areas where Vay operates. When they complete their trip, they can choose in Vay’s app to have the company’s remote driver take over and park the car. Vay’s remote control car then drives the car back.
The company has already conducted autonomous and remote testing on public roads in Europe and the United States. It has been working to get the technology through regulators on both sides of the Atlantic.
Vay, for its part, said its service was designed with safety in mind and that drivers must undergo rigorous testing and evaluation before they are deemed suitable to be remote drivers on its network.
“We developed our remote drive technology to meet applicable safety requirements and provide our customers with reliable mobile services,” Vay CEO and co-founder Thomas von der Ohe told CNBC.
“With remote driving, humans are in charge. This allows us to handle complex maneuvers such as unprotected left turns, emergencies and road construction based on human perception and decision-making capabilities.”
Von der Ohe added that Vay’s system was built in compliance with local laws and that the company had ensured that Nevada authorities accepted its technology before launching it.
Different views on Tesla-style self-driving
Vay is much smaller than Tesla. But the company hopes that as demand for alternative travel options increases, “self-driving” cars – where vehicles are driven by actual drivers in other remote locations – will take off.
Vay provides a car rental service where users can order a car, have the car driven to them remotely by a qualified driver, and then drive the car to the intended destination themselves.
The idea is that once Vay app users complete their journey, they can select a trained “remote driver” within the app to take over and park the car in the final parking spot.
Von der Ohe told CNBC he believes the company’s solution is a more effective alternative to robo-taxi companies such as Tesla, Google’s Waymo and General Motors’ Cruise.
He said last year was a tough year for the robo-taxi industry, with General Motors, a major player in self-driving cars in San Francisco, cutting spending at its Cruise self-driving unit by 50% after its robo-taxi foray into self-driving cars. . Several accidents occurred, including a collision with a fire truck.
“2023 is going to be a tough year for robotaxis,” von der Oh told CNBC. “Technically speaking, operating a robo-taxi service is very difficult. Not many companies can do it,” he added, noting that Waymo is a rare company that has succeeded with a fleet of self-driving cars.
Von der Oh added that this also wouldn’t work from a cost perspective, saying: “If they are available, they have to be priced at the same price as Uber.”
“Right now, they’re still far from that efficiency in terms of operating costs and capital expenditure costs,” he said.
“We’re approaching these challenges in a completely inverse way. We’re not saying they’re doing it wrong or we’re doing it better, we’re just doing it differently,” he said, adding that Vay will offer a service that’s much cheaper than hailing a ride. .
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