Vay sends the carsharing car directly to your door – without a driver
I n the field of car sharing, there have been comparatively few innovations in the past few years. a berlin start-up spent three years developing a new concept in stealth mode. So-called tele-rides are to gradually lead the industry towards autonomous driving.
Vay plans to bring electric vehicles to europe and the u.s. next year, eliminating the need to search for and park them on the road. Tele-drivers will take over the tiresome work.
And remotely from the respective central offices. Customers order via app and get the car driven right up to their doorstep. So the plan.
For two years now, vay cars have been driving through berlin on a test basis with a safety driver on board. The authorities are aware. In the next step, the chaperones will disappear from the car and the service will be available like any other sharing service.
"we are not a cab service," co-founder and CEO thomas von der ohe emphasizes to "grunderszene. The idea is to give people more incentive to do without a private car, because they are relieved of all the tedious tasks of car ownership by the company.
This is supposed to be cheaper than an uber. The start-up does not yet want to be more specific about the conditions.
No parking equals no hassle?
Because the cars do not need to be parked and are on the road for the next booking, there is not such a high density of vehicles in the parking areas. This could also relieve the parking situation.
So far, a major criticism of the carsharing model: they additionally fill up the cities with cars. "We don’t have to start with a thousand vehicles in a city to be able to offer a good service, like other car-sharing companies," says von der ohe.
The founder does not yet want to disclose how many vehicles the start-up will launch with. von der ohe also leaves open where vay will start in 2022.
One thing is certain, however: several european cities are expected to get started. The start-up is already in active contact with municipalities and countries to this end. Well-known investors have already invested 28 million euros (30 million US dollars) in the idea.
Among them the vcs atomico and creandum. business angels from silicon valley are also involved. The contacts were made, among other things, by von der ohe.
In 2010, he founded pockettaxi and then moved to the U.S. to study in stanford and work in the valley. After six years in silicon valley, he moved back to berlin to found vay in 2018.
The know-how for the hardware comes from fabrizio scelsi. He was jointly responsible for the launch of the streetscooter in aachen as technical director. The third member of the group, bogdan djukic, comes from the software sector. He was previously employed as a developer for microsoft and skype.
When the tele-driver takes the wheel
Autonomous driving has been a hot topic for some time now, with the first commercial services announced for this year. Due to technical and regulatory hurdles, nothing has come of it so far. This is why vay relies on tele-drivers.
They are certified and specially trained in practice and theory, according to von der ohe. The tele-drivers sit in front of screens, they get the road events streamed and steer the car to the customer.
You have to take a breathalyzer test before you start your shift. You can not drive too fast and also fatigue is observed. The additional safety mechanisms are necessary so that the service can be offered smoothly in road traffic, says the founder.
That’s why there’s also a 360-degree view around the car, so that no blind spots appear when turning. In the event of a power failure in the control center, the emergency batteries are switched on.