Vay expands driverless car-sharing fleet in Las Vegas
Vay is hitting the accelerator on its driverless car-sharing service in Las Vegas. The Berlin-based startup, which uses teleoperations technology that lets humans pilot empty vehicles to customers, has been operating a small commercial fleet of retrofitted Kia e-Niro vehicles in certain parts of Las Vegas since January 2024. When customers open the Vay app and hail a car, it arrives without a human behind the wheel. Once the Vay vehicle arrives, the customer hops in and takes over manual control of the car. Customers drive themselves to their destination. Once theyre finished, the teleops driver pilots the vehicle back.Vay announced Wednesday during CES 2025 it is expanding its operations and plans to increase its fleet to 100 vehicles in Las Vegas.The startup, which raised a 34 million round from the European Investment Bank last year, has also secured a production facility to meet growing demand. The company said the facility will be used to build out Vays Kia e-Niro fleet.Vay co-founder and CEO Thomas Von der Ohe said the investment represents a significant milestone for Vays growth and will play a crucial role in scaling its offerings.Vay said its users have taken more than 6,000 trips throughout central Las Vegas. Last year, the company announced plans to expand into business-to-business operations, aiming to provide remote driving for private cars, trucks, vans, and autonomous vehicles. Vay said Wednesday its hiring remote car and truck drivers as B2B operations expand this year. The company hasnt shared what vehicles it will use for its commercial B2B service.