Halo.Car delivers rental cars by remote control
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
A remote operator drives a Halo car in Las Vegas. Photo: Halo.Car
If you want to rent an electric vehicle (EV) in Las Vegas, now you can have one delivered to you remotely, without a driver.
Driving the news: Halo.Car, which has been testing remote delivery of on-demand electric cars in Las Vegas since 2022, says its technology is now robust enough to remove the backup safety driver from its vehicles.
- That means an empty car will come to you, and you can then hop in and drive away.
Why it matters: Halo.Car's mission is not to advance autonomous vehicle technology, but to rapidly accelerate the global transition to EVs by making shared cars conveniently available for hourly and daily use.
- CEO Anand Nandakumar called the commercial launch of driverless delivery "a landmark achievement" for the transportation industry.
- "We are really pushing the boundaries of what people believed was possible,” he said in a press release.
Details: During delivery, the car is controlled by a human operator miles away behind a computer screen.
- The specially trained remote pilot uses a steering wheel, foot pedals and other controls, along with video and sensor data streamed from the vehicle.
- The system operates over T-Mobile's 5G network, with AT&T and Verizon as backups to ensure a reliable network connection and low latency.
How it works: Riders use the Halo app to summon a modified electric Kia Niro SUV.
- When the driverless vehicle arrives, the remote pilot hands over control of the vehicle to the customer, who slides in behind the wheel and drives away.
- When they're ready to return the car, the rider switches control back to the remote pilot and exits the vehicle.
- The remotely operated car then moves on to the next customer, or navigates to a charging station, if necessary.
State of play: For now, while they're being remotely driven, Halo.Car's vehicles will be followed by employees in a chase car who can monitor and stop them if needed.
- The initial fleet includes about 20 vehicles limited to 25 mph while being remotely operated.
- The remote operating zone is just a 1.5-square-mile area of downtown Las Vegas, with more areas of the city planned in the coming months.
- The company plans to grow its fleet in Las Vegas to "hundreds" of vehicles before expanding to more cities in 2024.
The bottom line: "If Zipcar could come to you like an Uber, that's Halo.Car," Nandakumar tells Axios.
