German remote-driving startup Vay announced on Thursday it has received €34 million ($37 million) in funding from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to roll out its remote-driven vehicle technology across Europe and expand its development team.
CEO Thomas von der Ohe explained that the low-interest, long-term loan from the EIB would help the company scale its operations. “The EIB loan will help us launch our commercial services either in Hamburg, where we have already been conducting testing, or in Belgium where we have formed a partnership with car-share provider Poppy,” von der Ohe told Reuters.
Earlier this year, Vay launched its first commercial service in Las Vegas, where a “teledriver” operates electric short-term rental cars remotely. The teledriver delivers cars to customers and picks them up after the rental period. The remote drivers sit at a station equipped with a steering wheel, pedals, and monitors displaying the vehicle’s surroundings via camera sensors.
Vay has raised about $110 million from investors, including Sweden’s Kinnevik, Coatue, and France’s Eurazeo. The company operates 20 cars in Las Vegas, with plans to expand the fleet to 100 vehicles. According to von der Ohe, Vay’s service costs consumers “half as much as an Uber per ride.”
Looking ahead, Vay plans to gradually introduce self-driving features to its fleet, using cameras that are cheaper than the lidar and radar technology employed by most autonomous vehicle developers. However, von der Ohe noted, “while truly self-driving cars are many years away, there is huge potential for remote-driving technology in the meantime.”
In addition to car-sharing services, Vay is also working on remote-driving solutions for trucks and delivery vans, and has partnered with Stellantis’ Peugeot unit to apply the technology to commercial vehicles.
