Las Vegas Rolls Out Remote-Controlled Electric Car Service as Travel Options Grow

Las Vegas continues to lead the way in transportation innovation, as it is a proving ground for several self-driving and remotely driven vehicles by companies such as Amazon's Zoox, Waymo, and Motional. With its latest tele-operated service, it welcomes Berlin-based company Vay, which is uniquely looking at the future of driverless transportation with remotely driven electric vehicle rentals on demand.

Vay's model allows users to summon a car via an app, drive it to their destination, and then have it driven away by a remote operator after the trip. The service is priced at 35 cents per minute, offering a significantly more affordable alternative to traditional rideshare services. “What it basically is, is teleportation,” he says. “You teleport a human into one car, and that human drives that car to a customer. Then the remote driver can teleport to another car on the other side of town, or maybe in another city.”

The company emphasizes human oversight to address safety concerns, with remote drivers able to intervene when necessary. “We've heard that from users several times, that it's reassuring to know that human decision is involved in this,” says Silvia Avanzini, Vay's head of communications. “Vehicles parked in the middle of the street, construction work, detours — these things can be easily addressed by humans, obviously. But it takes longer to train autonomous vehicles for that.”

Transportation planners in Las Vegas view these services as a complement to the city's broader transit network. “It's not replacing anything,” Swallow says. “It's more complementary to the vision we have for continuing to evolve our transit network. This would just be another layer of service that we would add into it to make the larger system more accessible.”

Autonomous vehicles are expected to reduce parking needs and alleviate congestion, especially in high-traffic areas like the Strip. “With autonomous vehicles, that means a car drives you to the center of the city, and then it drives off. It either goes home, or maybe, if it's part of a taxi service, it goes and finds the next ride somewhere else, or it goes to some off-site location far away.”

Looking ahead, the Regional Transportation Commission plans to launch GoMed, an automated service for the medical district, by late 2026, further expanding Las Vegas's role as a leader in next-generation mobility solutions.