Techno | What if man replaced AI this time?

The German company Vay has created a new application which has several advantages, including simplicity, the economy of money and time, while providing those who use it the feeling of doing better for the planet.

We are talking here about an application that has existed for a year in Las Vegas and that allows a person to rent a vehicle in a way that could not be simpler.

The user uses the application to first have an electric vehicle delivered to the address of their choice, at home for example. When the car arrives, it has no driver, but is not independent either. It is rather remote control thanks to a human who leads her remotely. The person who placed the order can then take the wheel in turn and drive the vehicle as they would with a normal car.

At the end of the journey, the user only has to indicate, with the application always, that she puts an end to his rental. It only remains for him to get out of the car and, once again, a driver from a distance will take over, thus avoiding him to seek parking, which is often tedious.

For the curious, the driving position in question is in Las Vegas, in a center of more than 8,500 square feet, an installation large enough to meet the demand that increases for this type of service. With this door-to-door mobility function, the German company wants to provide remote driving services accessible to everyone and, for a year, this avenue has been a guarantee of success.

In addition to the simplicity of this formula, users are also attracted to the price of the service. According to Vay company, this rental process per minute costs half as much as current options with driver, such as the Uber services of this world, to name a few. The application also presents itself as an interesting spare solution to autonomous driving, especially since people often feel more safe.

Vay's ambition is that its entirely electric technology and park make it possible to reduce the number of cars in urban areas, thus helping to make cities greener and less congestioned, another aspect which is not to be disdained either.

Safety and flexibility

In the center of Las Vegas commands, you can feel like you are in a lair of gamers. Drivers, duly trained by a professional, are seated at a virtual driving station. They have three screens in front of them, a steering wheel, pedals and some other orders to drive the vehicle as it should be.

To guide well, they are also oriented using images which reproduce the external environment of the vehicle, which come from cameras sensors. While the car is in circulation, they can see what is at the front, back and on the sides. Road traffic sounds, emergency vehicles and other warning signals are transmitted to the driver's headset at a distance through microphones.

Launched for a year, the service is offered day and evening, between 6:30 a.m. and 10 p.m., throughout the center of Las Vegas. The territory served covers the strip, the busiest hotels and the many nearby attractions. The user can take advantage of the vehicle for a period of up to 12 hours. In this context, we can compare the service more to a car rental than a taxi service.

Since its launch a year ago, users have made more than 6000 trips to the big city of the game. The vehicle park has also grown, going from 2 to 30 cars. The German company also wants to further increase its park to 100 electric cars.

For those who read this chronicle and who say to themselves that this is the dream job, know that the Vay Remote Driving Academy offers a full training program that prepares drivers at a distance to drive professionally on public roads.

These employees work in an office environment, alongside their colleagues, they take regular breaks and are paid on time rather than in the race, which gives them greater stability. The company is also said to be very interested in hiring gamersbecause they often already have the required skills. It only remains to move to Las Vegas …

If this project is evolving and developing positively, it could be born soon elsewhere in the world. This is a service that keeps humans behind the wheel, with their capacity for judgment, unlike artificial intelligence which could be more relegated to other uses.