Teledriving Is a Sneaky Shortcut to Driverless Cars

On the busy streets of suburban Berlin, just south of Tempelhofer Feld, a white Kia is skillfully navigating double-parked cars, roadworks, cyclists, and pedestrians. The company kits its cars out with radar, GPS, ultrasound, and an array of other sensors to allow drivers like Dan to control the vehicles remotely from a purpose-built station equipped with a driver's seat, steering wheel, pedals, and three monitors providing visibility in front of the car and to its side. Vay's approach, which it calls teledriving, is pitched as an alternative to fully autonomous driving, which is proving much harder to achieve than first thought--as the likes of Waymo, Cruise, and Tesla are discovering. At Zoox, remote driving was used as a failsafe for driverless cars. If a self-driving car came across an unexpected obstacle, teleguidance would allow a human operator to take control of the vehicle remotely and steer it around the obstruction. But von der Ohe was frustrated by the industry's slow progress.