Six months after sharing initial plans to expand to the US and begin remotely operated journeys in Las Vegas, Vay has successfully driven its teledrive vehicles on public roads in Sin City without a human present inside. Check out the video below.
Vay is a teledriving specialist originally based in Berlin, Germany that has taken a remote-first approach to âdriverlessâ vehicles, in which an operator operates an EV in its fleet from a dedicated hub.
While Vay hopes to one day introduce more autonomous driving functions into its system as permitted, its current service relies on teledrivers, whose focus is the remote delivery of rental EVs to customers. The process enables customers to hop in a delivered EV, drive off, and park whenever they are done, alerting Vay to step back in and remotely drive the vehicle back to base.
After operating its first vehicle without a driver present in Hamburg this past February, Vay declared itself the first and only company to do so on European roads. This past May, Vay followed up with plans to operate in the US, which led to its first teledriver hire in Las Vegas in May.
Vayâs initial US teledriver completed a thorough training program via the companyâs teledrive academy, becoming the first of hopefully many future drivers to operate out of the companyâs new Las Vegas headquarters.
Today, Vay is celebrating another key milestone, beginning teledriver operated routes on public roads in Las Vegas for the first time, joining a US competitor thatâs been offering a similar service.
Credit: Vay
Vay joins Halo.car in Las Vegas with remote EV drives
With the commencement of operations in Las Vegas, Vay has become the first teledriver specialist to operate on public roads on two separate continents. That said, Vay is not the first company to operate vehicles in the US⊠or Las Vegas for that matter⊠without a human inside.
Fellow teledriving specialist Halo.car has been operating âdriverlessâ rides from its remote hub in Las Vegas since June. Still, another teledriving service in the US is welcomed and represents a viable bridge in the gap between in-cabin drivers and fully-autonomous travel, which still appears years away.
To reach todayâs driving milestone, Vay says its teledriver technology went through a thorough development and validation process to ensure it met all industry standards to allow for safe operation on public roads. Vay co-founder and chief technology officer, Fabrizio Scelsi elaborated:
At Vay, we donât just say âSafety Firstâ â we live it. We implement safety and security by design, considering this as an essential part of our development process starting from day one.â Vay follows key safety standards, including those for vehicle safety, functional safety (ISO 26262), and cybersecurity (ISO 21434). TĂV SĂŒd, an independent third-party for testing, certification, auditing and advisory services, has tested and positively endorsed Vayâs technology in accordance with these high safety standards.
With Las Vegas operations now underway, Vay aims to offer a safe, sustainable, door-to-door vehicle deliveries via its app. Vegas locals interested in testing out Vayâs service can request early access by subscribing to a waiting list.
Check out Vayâs video of the remotely operated EV navigating Las Vegas roads with no one inside below:
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With the launch of the first-ever Class 8 vocational EV in the North American market, PACCAR Kenworth is raising the battery-electric bar and underscoring just how far the market has come since the Tesla Semi made its debut nearly a decade ago.
When Tesla pulled the wraps off its all electric Semi truck all the way back in November of 2017, the rest of the industry was hardly thinking about BEVs. Nearly a decade later, the world is still waiting for the Semi to begin regular production, and PACCAR is launching its second generation of HDEVs with the debut of this, the all-new Kenworth T880E vocational truck.
âThe Kenworth T880E marks a groundbreaking milestone in Kenworthâs history as we bring to market the first Class 8 battery-electric solution built for vocational applications,â explains Kevin Haygood, Kenworth assistant general manager for sales and marketing. âThe T880E is engineered to meet the evolving needs of operators and vocational fleets while still providing the durability, reliability and customization our customers expect.â
In addition to a stout, Class 8 electric chassis fitted with heavy-duty Kenworth brakes and axles, the T880Eâs central drive eMotor allows for significant wheelbase flexibility so fleet buyers can spec out exactly the machine they need to get the job done. The T880E was also designed to enable lift axle installations from trusted Kenworth upfitters for a vocational-friendly BEV integration.
Additionally, the T880E features a wide selection of factory-installed options that include both high- and low-voltage ePTO (electric Power Take Off) ports, mechanical ePTOs, and the same wide array of body configurations as the ICE version.
Speaking of the ICE version, the electric T880E also can also be had in the same set-back front axle and set-forward front axle configurations with the same multi-piece hood construction. Inside the cab, the latest in driver-focused technology includes the Kenworth SmartWheel and a new 15âł DriverConnect digital touchscreen. Dash and vocational features like RAM Mounts and factory-installed PTO switches are available. The T880E is also offered with Kenworth ADAS packages for customers interested in DigitalVision Mirrors, Bendix Fusion, and Lane Keeping Assist.
Itâs so big, you guys
Kenworth T880E; photo by the author.
The T880E was on static display at last weekâs ACT Expo in Anaheim, California. Check with your local Kenworth dealer for availability.
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The tire-blistering SU7 Ultra has been the Xiaomi brandâs flagship super sedan since its launch, but a controversial software setting has limited the car to âjustâ 900 hp in regular driving â resulting in an outcry from owners who ponied up for the big boy numbers. With its latest software update, that missing 648 hp is back on tap!
The SU7 Ultra made waves throughout the performance car world when a bright yellow striped example lined up alongside a white quarter mile king, the 1,000+ hp Tesla Model S Plaid, and promptly smoked it.
That wasnât all. A preproduction SU7 Ultra prototype lapped the legendary NĂŒrburgring circuit in just 6 minutes and 46.874 seconds, firmly stamping the 1,500+ hp Xiaomiâs alphanumeric into the trackâs record books with a time nearly fifteen seconds quicker than a Rimac Nevera or, on the ICE front, either a Corvette ZR1, Viper ACR, or Porsche 918 (take your pick).
Itâs hardly any wonder, then, that the customers who signed up â in droves, too â were disappointed to learn that the SU7 they were allowed to buy had been neutered by the safety nannies to the tune of nearly 650 hp. (!)
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Weâre so back
The outrage from SU7 Ultra owners was immediate. And, facing mounting pressure online and on social media, Xiaomi ultimately decided to withdraw the performance-limiting features while acknowledging the need for more transparent communication about future software updates they messed up, saying in a statement, âwe appreciate the passionate feedback from our community and will ensure better transparency moving forward.â
So, rich people can rocket themselves down the road in 9 second hypercars again and all is right with the world. A happy ending â but one that sort of illuminates a fresh set challenges for automakers peddling âsoftware-defined vehiclesâ to a market that still thinks of their cars as very much hardware defined products.
The new reality is playing out in real time now, and the Jeff Bezos-backed $20,000 electric compact pickup from Slate Auto is going the other way entirely â time will tell whether more, or less tech is the answer.
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Tesla (TSLA) has started offering reduced interest rates on the new Model Y in the US â this equates to a direct discount on the brand new vehicle that was supposed to spark Teslaâs demand back.
The automaker has announced â1.99% APR or $0 Due at Signing available for well-qualified buyersâ on the new Model Y in the US for the first time:
This amounts to a direct discount worth a few thousand dollars. It is the first widely available discount on the new Model Y coming just weeks after the cheaper non-Launch Edition launched in the US.
These discounts and subsidized financing point to soft demand for the updated best-selling vehicle in the US. Tesla just delivered a disastrous first quarter, which it mostly blamed on the Model Y changeover, resulting in lower inventory.
However, industry watchers, including Electrek, noted many signs that the Model Y changeover was not the only issue. Tesla added significantly to its inventory in the first quarter, and the wait times for the new Model Y were extremely short.
Now, the discount weeks after launching the new Model Y confirm the soft demand in the US.
I think itâs clear by now: the new Model Y is not coming to save Tesla.
Letâs be honest: It will still be a significant vehicle program by volume. It just wonât help Tesla return to growth this year.
The RWD Model Y is still coming and has a chance to help in the US. It is already available in China, and itâs not helping Tesla much there, but thatâs in a hyper-competitive market, especially at lower prices where the RWD Model Y operates.
Teslaâs performance in Q2 in China will be interesting since it is basically back to its regular lineup for the whole quarter.
The US appears to have been Teslaâs least affected market, but Q3 will be the real test with the full lineup and no backlog of demand for new Model Y.
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