Invisible man: German startup bets on remote driver

Las Vegas: So, there’s this cool startup called Vay Technology from Germany. They’re doing something pretty wild with remote driving. Imagine a car pulling up with no one behind the wheel. It looks like a robotaxi, but it’s actually a human controlling it from an office using monitors.

Over the past year, folks in Las Vegas have been trying out their rides. Vay was even showing off their tech at the big Consumer Electronics Show. Thomas von der Ohe, the CEO, says their approach is way cheaper and doesn’t rely on all those fancy autonomous driving simulations.

He believes that having a human in the loop is key for safety. Unlike companies like Tesla, Vay isn’t dreaming of a future without steering wheels. They use simple camera tech instead of the pricey Lidar systems that others prefer.

During a demo, you could see someone operating the car like a video game, with screens showing live feeds from different angles. Plus, their rides are half the price of Uber or Lyft, which is a sweet deal.

In just a year, their fleet in Vegas has grown from two cars to thirty, completing around 6,000 rides. But here’s the kicker: Von der Ohe thinks their real money-maker will be delivering cars to customers who want to drive them themselves, kind of like a rental service.

This flexibility could make Vay a real alternative to owning a car, which is pretty exciting.