Halo.car began with a simple question: how to radically increase the use of electric vehicles while making them accessible without ownership.

‍

Gas powered cars are responsible for 17% of total annual GHG emissions in the US. Today there are more than 200m gas cars in the US, compared to less than 5m electric vehicles. Getting more people to drive EVs sooner is a critical way to reduce the 100m tonnes of CO2 emitted annually by driving. 

One company I visited wasn't participating in CES, but they were based in Vegas. It's called Halo.car and it is an EV rental company that delivers your car to you anywhere in the city of Las Vegas. If you're in certain parts of Las Vegas, Halo.car will deliver your car to you via remote pilot. You read that right. Halo.car has modified a fleet of Kia Niro EVs so they can be remote-piloted from its home base using off-the-shelf parts including a Logitech steering wheel and pedals and an Elgato Stream Deck.

Las Vegas seems to be the perfect place to test out autonomous and now remote-piloted vehicles.

Perhaps it’s the town’s “anything goes” attitude, or just the fact that you have a lot of people who need rides inside a fairly compact area with mostly predictable traffic patterns. Either way, Vegas is the place to experience the latest in mobility innovations.

Among the autonomous shuttles and taxis now plying the Las Vegas downtown area in beta mode, you’ll now see Halo.Car, which is driverless but not autonomous.