Invisible man: German startup bets on remote driver [Video]

With no one in the driver seat, the SUV pulling up resembles an autonomous robotaxi like those becoming increasingly present in some cities — but the car from German startup Vay is something else.

One of a number of emerging players aiming to disrupt road transportation, the seven-year-old company is built around remote driving, where a human is very much present, though sitting in an office using TV monitors to guide the car.

Over the last year, riders in Las Vegas have been able to test drive Vay, and the company was demonstrating its technology ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the world’s most important tech show.

Thomas von der Ohe, chief executive and co-founder of Vay, said his was a lower-cost approach “that has nothing to do with autonomous driving.”

Von der Ohe, who previously worked at Zoox, the Amazon-owned autonomous driving company, said that unlike autonomous driving …