the streets of berlin, controlled from here. as i prepare to take over the wheel, i can t help wondering if it s easy to forget you re in control of a car. it looks just like a normal car. the steering wheel has all the buttons that i recognise but, of course, there s this big red button. exactly. what does it do? that s an additional safety measure which vay implemented in case something happens with the session, then the teledriver is trained to react to that by pressing the brake very hard and at the same time, the emergency button, which basically will also bring the vehicle to a safe stop.
this car might look like it s moving on its own, but the secret behind it is a team of drivers based in an office on the other side of berlin. the idea behind vay is that in a city, you won t need to own a car simply order one to be delivered to you whenever you need it. with vay app, then, the car is being remotely driven by the teledriver to the customer, so the customer doesn t need to search for the car. just get into the car on the driver s seat, drive themselves to the destination and, at the destination, theyjust get out without the need to search for parking lot, etc. theyjust get out because the teledriver can then take over control until it drives the vehicle to the next customers. that took us about 30 minutes to get here.
i recognise but, of course, there s this big red button. exactly. what does it do? that s an additional safety measure which vay implemented in case something happens with the session, then the teledriver is trained to react to that by pressing the brake very hard and at the same time, the emergency button, which basically will also bring the vehicle to a safe stop. so, that s me now in drive. you have full control. 0k. foot off the brake. yeah. and we re starting to move forward. there we are. ifeel like i m getting very close to these cones. yeah. 0h! it s very strange, the spatial awareness of where the cones are. yeah, it s something that you have to get used to. yeah. perhaps my driving reputation came before me but while i was behind the wheel, there was a safety driver in case things didn t go to plan. so, chris in the car is telling me to take my time. yeah.
she s moving a car around the streets of berlin, controlled from here. as i prepare to take over the wheel, i can t help wondering if it s easy to forget you re in control of a car. it looks just like a normal car. the steering wheel has all the buttons that i recognise but, of course, there s this big red button. exactly. what does it do? that s an additional safety measure which vay implemented in case something happens with the session, then the teledriver is trained to react to that by pressing the brake very hard and at the same time, the emergency button, which basically will also bring
the idea behind vay is that in a city, you won t need to own a car simply order one to be delivered to you whenever you need it. with vay app, then, the car is being remotely driven by the teledriver to the customer, so the customer doesn t need to search for the car. just get into the car on the driver s seat, drive themselves to the destination and, at the destination, theyjust get out without the need to search for parking lot, etc. theyjust get out because the teledriver can then take over control until it drives the vehicle to the next customers. that took us about 30 minutes to get here. this is a telestation, where they drive the cars as they move all over the city of berlin. and in a television first, they re going to let me have a shot. alina is one of the drivers.