Beta program opens to residents; customers use their phone to summon a car, which arrives at their exact location using remote-piloted technology
LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Today, Halo.Car, the innovative car rental startup headquartered in Las Vegas, announced it has received approval from the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to launch its vehicle delivery beta to area residents, starting with the Downtown Fremont and Arts District area. Halo.Car allows customers to avoid the inconvenience of traditional car rental by offering contactless delivery of a rental car to a customer’s location.
Customers book a vehicle at halo.car and select their location for delivery. The car is driven to the customer remotely, piloted over LTE and 5G by one of Halo’s Las Vegas-based “remote pilots” using video and sensor data streamed from the vehicle. On arrival, the customer drives the vehicle themselves as a regular rental vehicle. When their booking concludes, a Halo remote pilot reconnects to the car and drives it away to its next destination.
The Las Vegas beta program opens to the public this week, with Halo inviting Las Vegas residents and visitors to trial the delivery service and provide feedback.
During the beta, vehicle deliveries will be accompanied by a Halo support operator to ensure a safe and seamless experience. The beta program will run over summer in the leadup to Halo’s commercial launch later this year, which will see the support operators phased out for fully ‘driverless’ drop-offs.
Halo’s fleet of rental vehicles are all electric, offering residents an easy and unique way to try an electric vehicle for the first time, or to trial the addition of an electric vehicle to a household’s roster of cars.
“36% of Americans are seriously considering buying an electric vehicle, but worry about the challenges of charging, range and total cost,” said Halo CEO Anand Nandakumar, referencing Consumer Reports recent survey of more than 8,000 households. “Halo offers a way for customers to get the full EV experience without committing outright to a purchase.”
Halo has been testing its remote pilot technology on public roads in Las Vegas since February 2021, bolstered by a partnership with T-Mobile. The technology stands in contrast to self-driving technology, which aims to remove humans entirely from controlling the vehicle. Nandakumar saw firsthand the delays and difficulties facing self-driving technology in his previous role leading perception at Uber’s self-driving car unit, Advanced Technologies Group.
“Self-driving technologies have not yet achieved the level of safety necessary for a fully driverless reality – that’s a decade away, if not more,” said Nandakumar. “Halo’s human-operated remote pilot technology is trusted more by consumers, and it’s available now, bringing the convenience and savings of ‘driverless’ vehicles to market sooner.”
Following the phase out of support operators and commercial launch, Halo will scale up its fleet of EVs and expand to more cities across the US, with a target of 1,000 vehicles in the fleet within 2 years.
“Our ultimate mission is to move the entire planet to electric cars and eliminate the dependence on fossil fuels.”
CONTACT
Cass Mao
Chief Strategy Officer
About Halo.Car
Halo’s driverless rental dropoff brings electric vehicles to customers on-demand, driven remotely over LTE and 5G by Halo’s trained drivers. Headquartered in Las Vegas, Halo’s mission is to move customers into electric vehicles by making EV rental more convenient than traditional car ownership. Learn more at http://halo.car.
