Two years after launching its first commercial fleet in Las Vegas, hybrid remote driving company Vay is growing its staff and services and partnering with local hospitality staffing platform Goodwrx to offer Strip workers discounted rides, the company said Wednesday.
The partnership aims to address the “fluctuating rideshare pricing” that hospitality workers face daily, giving them a more reliable and affordable way to commute. The driving rate for Vay is $.35 a minute; the stopover rate is $.05 per minute.
Vay was founded six years ago by CEO Thomas von der Ohe and co-founders Fabrizio Scelsi and Bogdan Djukic, former autonomous vehicle engineers who saw an opportunity to complement emerging driverless technology.
Through the Vay app, users can rent a car from the electric fleet for up to 12 hours. A remote driver steers the vehicle to the customer’s pickup location, where the customer takes the wheel for the day — making single or multiple stops.
A Vay electric car, piloted by a remote driver, heads down a road in downtown Las Vegas Tuesday, March 11, 2025. Photo by: Steve Marcus
When the customer is finished, the remote driver takes over and returns the vehicle to Vay’s lot.
Vay chose downtown Las Vegas for its U.S. headquarters in 2023, initially housing remote drivers in a modified office fitted with pedals, steering wheels, headsets and triple monitors. The company has since relocated to the Zappos campus on Stewart Avenue, steps from Fremont Street.
Early service centered around the UNLV area before expanding to the Strip, Chinatown and, now, northeast Las Vegas. Drivers have taken more than 60,000 trips through Vay since its inception, with many repeat users.
The fleet has grown to 175 vehicles, helped by an 8,500-square-foot Henderson production facility capable of outfitting up to 16 Kia e-Niros per week with cameras, computers and remote-driving hardware. It has plans to expand its staffing into the hundreds.
The service is designed to cost roughly half the price of a rideshare or taxi — and eventually, robotaxis, von der Ohe said. The expanded fleet has cut average wait times to under 10 minutes.
Vay, which employs around 150 people, plans to grow its team and expand into additional U.S. cities.
“Las Vegas is not just a city of lights, it’s a hotspot for mobility innovation and the right place for us to scale at pace. We are excited about this new phase and look forward to continuing to see customers embrace our service,” von der Ohe said.