German Remote-Driving Firm Hopes To Make Private Car Ownership Redundant

votsalo writes: A German company, Vay, offers a rental car service where the cars are driven by a remote driver to the customer, who then takes over driving the car. At the end of the rental, a remote driver takes over again to take the car away. The trained remote drivers sit in a driving station, with a steering wheel, foot pedals, screens, headphones, and even tactile feedback for things like bumps on the road. Vay says the rental rate cost would be "about half of what a current car-sharing service costs." If he is talking about car-rental services that deliver cars to customers by on-site drivers, like this defunct San Francisco car rental company, then the claim about half the cost seems right. Vay's founder used Las Vegas as a testing ground for the service and expects to launch in Germany soon. Las Vegas "had the necessary legal framework already in place," said von der Ohe, a graduate of computer science and entrepreneurship from Stanford. "It fitted on to three pages. Germany's ran to many more, but we've worked closely with the authorities here to make sure we can fulfil everything that's required of us, from technical to safety concerns. Now that the legislative landscape is in place, we're raring to go."

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