Vay crew | Picture credit score: Twitter (Bogdan Djukic)
Berlin-based Vay, a deeptech startup that claims to create a brand new path for mobility, introduced on Thursday that it’s the first firm in Europe to obtain an exemption allow for check rides and not using a security driver on public roads.
The Authority for Site visitors and Mobility Transition (BVM) in Hamburg issued the exemption permission. One of many necessities for approval by the authorities was a superb certification from TÜV SÜD.
TÜV SÜD examined the Vay teledrive system’s purposeful security and cybersecurity in compliance with ISO 26262 and ISO/SAE 21434 requirements. TÜV SÜD is an impartial third-party testing, certification, auditing, and consulting agency.
Anjes Tjarks, Hamburg’s Senator for Transport and Mobility Transition, says, “Clever mobility options are a necessary a part of the mobility transition. That’s why we’re delighted that Vay intends to supply a contemporary teledriving service in our metropolis and is now testing this revolutionary mannequin and not using a security driver in Bergedorf. For us in Hamburg, fashionable mobility options for our residents are a significant political precedence. We’re constructively supporting concepts that evolve highest calls for on security.”
A brand new strategy to driverless mobility
Based in 2018 by Thomas von der Ohe, Fabrizio Scelsi and Bogdan Djukic, Vay goals to remotely convey and park electrical vehicles for its clients.
The corporate intends to supply a sustainable, low-cost door-to-door transportation service utilizing remotely operated (“teledriven”) vehicles.
Teledrivers transport an electrical automobile to the shopper and acquire it when the journey is over, saving the patron time looking for a parking place. Clients drive themselves whereas within the automobile. Vay views teledriving as an alternate technique to autonomous driving and intends to regularly combine autonomous functionalities into its system utilizing high-quality teledrive knowledge.
The corporate has a crew of 150+ individuals and has places of work in Berlin and Hamburg, Germany, in addition to in Portland, US.
Vay raised $95M in its Sequence B spherical of funding. Its buyers embody Kinnevik, Coatue, Eurazeo, Atomico, La Famiglia and Creandum in addition to outstanding enterprise angels corresponding to former Alphabet CFO Patrick Pichette, a former member of the Administration Board for R&D, Design, CTO of Audi Peter Mertens and Spotify’s Chief Expertise & Chief Product Officer Gustav Söderström.
What has Vay been engaged on?
For greater than three years, Vay has been operating remotely-controlled electrical vehicles on public highways in Berlin and Hamburg. To this point, a security driver has been used. With the exemption permission now in hand, Vay can undertake testing and not using a security driver in a predefined area of Hamburg-Bergedorf. The corporate is now making ready for this necessary milestone in its four-year historical past.
Co-founder Thomas von der Ohe says, “We’re very blissful concerning the good cooperation with the authorities and this necessary step to get our distinctive idea on the highway as quickly as potential. It’s nice to see that this may be finished out of Europe.”
Vay is creating a door-to-door service during which shoppers request an electrical automobile utilizing the Vay app. The corporate’s mobility service gives a teledriver that brings the automobile straight to the shopper and is remotely managed from the teledrive centre. Teledrivers sit at a teledrive station, which features a steering wheel and pedals designed to fulfill car trade necessities.
A number of panels present the motive force with an outline of the visitors situation. After the car arrives, the shopper drives themself to their vacation spot. When the shopper arrives at their location, a teledriver takes over the automobile, eliminating the time-consuming seek for a parking place.
Thomas von der Ohe provides, “With our mobility service with electrical vehicles, extra individuals might be transported with fewer automobiles. This leaves extra space for higher dwelling in cities. Vay expects that it may well cut back private transportation prices and enhance highway security. By means of teledriving, Vay desires to assist cut back the 4 predominant causes of deadly accidents in internal cities: driving inebriated or medication, rushing, distraction and fatigue.”
Security performance
Vay makes use of quite a few cellular networks to allow protected and uninterrupted knowledge switch. Within the case of potential however ‘extraordinarily uncommon’ community failures or emergencies, the automobile instantly involves a protected cease inside milliseconds.
Moreover, teledrivers are additionally extremely skilled. They full a certificates after many weeks of sensible and theoretical instruction on the Vay Teledrive Academy. They discover ways to address emergency circumstances in visitors.
