
While players like Waymo and many more have been dominating the sphere of autonomous ride-hailing, Vay, an unsung German champion in the ring, is offering remotely-operated cab service in Las Vegas at the half of Uber and Lyft.
With no one in the driving seat, Vay's driverless fleet of electric vehicles (EVs) is reportedly not designed to eliminate steering in the future.
Instead, Vay's rides are fully manned, but remote, since a Vay operator carefully manoeuvres the EV throughout the journey.
Rising from a fleet of two to 30 vehicles and with 6,000 rides under its belt, Vay was test-driven on the roads of Las Vegas over the previous year.
Ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2025, the company also showcased its technological command in equipping Vay EVs.
Vay "has nothing to do with autonomous driving," said Thomas von der Ohe, chief executive and co-founder of Vay, adding that he was committed to introducing affordable ride-hailing.
Unlike Waymo and Lyft which had to commit and pass numerous test drive rounds to obtain regulatory approval, Vay is not bound to "run massive amounts of simulations" to prove to be safe.
"Our core safety principle is that the (human driver) can make the decision," he said.
Moving away from the Lidar sensing system installed atop Waymo and other driverless ride-hailing options, the camera technology used to monitor Vay rides costs significantly less than those.
To be precise, rides from Vay cost half the price charged by Uber or Lyft. The Vay co-founder said the company is aiming to attain profitability in the next year or two.