Las Vegas instead of Hamburg-Bergedorf

Vay has launched its first commercial tele-driving mobility service in Las Vegas. Unlike in Germany, where the Berlin-based startup had the first remote-controlled cars driving on public roads in Hamburg-Bergedorf in February 2023 and has been waiting for approval ever since, things happened very quickly in the US casino metropolis. After a few weeks in the "early access phase", the authorities gave the green light for the "telegraphed mobility service" around the University of Nevada (UNLV) and in the Arts District.

Here, customers can order an electric vehicle at the touch of a button using an app and a teledriver drives the car forward - remotely controlled from the teledriving center. There, the drivers sit at a station with a car steering wheel and pedals as well as all the necessary controls. They have an overview of the traffic situation via several screens and headphones. The customers then drive themselves to their destination. Once there, the teledriver takes over the vehicle again, drives it on or parks it. The app can also be used to make stopovers, for example to do some shopping at the supermarket. As with the familiar sharing services, billing is by the minute. In the USA, 30 US cents are charged per minute driven and three cents per minute for intermediate stops.

"We are delighted that we have been able to bring our vision to life so quickly in the USA," comments Vay co-founder and CEO Thomas von der Ohe on the market launch of the Telefahr service and is eagerly awaiting the end of the approval process in Germany. "We have been developing our technology for five years and are ready for the launch." Now the word just has to get around in the German bureaucracy. (aum)