Vay (Berlin Exit)
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
Some sections are still being researched2 / 4
Sections to complete：02 · 05
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Vay was a Berlin mobility startup founded in September 2018 by Thomas von der Ohe, Fabrizio Scelsi and Bogdan Djukic that pioneered 'teledriving': a teledrive-first approach to autonomous driving in which a human operator remotely drives the vehicle. Its team combined Silicon Valley software and product experience (Tesla, Google, Waymo, Zoox, Uber) with European automotive engineering, and it operated offices in Berlin and Portland, Oregon.
02 / FAILURE REASONS
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03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Founded
Vay was founded in Berlin by Thomas von der Ohe, Fabrizio Scelsi and Bogdan Djukic, teledriving on Berlin streets in secret for two years.
- Funding
The company raised around 85 million euros in a round led by Kinnevik, Coatue and Eurazeo to launch a driverless, certified commercial mobility service.
- Commercial launch and EIB loan
Vay launched its first commercial teledriving service in Las Vegas and received a 34 million euro venture loan from the European Investment Bank to create commercial services in Europe; it had previously conducted test drives without a safety driver on public roads in Hamburg.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN / AFTERMATH
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.