For the first time, a car with no human inside has driven on a public road in Europe.
The feat was accomplished byVay, a Germanstartup.
The company uses an approach called teledriving to remote-control cars from sites located miles away.
Operators pilot the vehicles with steering wheels, pedals, and monitors.
They also receive road traffic sounds via microphones and headphones.
The system resembles racing simulators for video games only the action on the screens is happening for real.
40% off TNW Conference!
In the event of a online grid failure or emergency, the vehicle automatically comes to a safe stop.
Vay trialled the tech without safety drivers after receiving an exemption permit from Hamburg.
The company announced on Tuesday that its now completed its first test drives on predefined routes in the city.
Vay was founded in Berlin in 2018.
The company eventually plans to sell their tech in two ways.
The first is a door-to-door mobility service.
The second service is teledriving a car while the user sits in the back.
The services aim to compete with existing car-sharingand ride-hailing providers.
Anjes Tjarks, Hamburgs Senator for Transport and Mobility Transition, envisions further benefits.
Vay will also use its test data to develop self-driving features.
Perhaps teledriving can give a jumpstart to the stallingautonomous vehiclesector.
Story byThomas Macaulay
Thomas is the managing editor of TNW.
He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers.
Away from work, he e(show all)Thomas is the managing editor of TNW.
He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers.
Away from work, he enjoys playing chess (badly) and the guitar (even worse).
