Las Vegas driverless car rental service set for expansion

A driverless car rental service is expanding its Las Vegas operations.

Following a four-month beta test of its on-demand electric vehicle service in the downtown Las Vegas area, Halo.Car is expanding its operations valley wide.

“To date we’ve focused on remote deliveries within the downtown Las Vegas area, with nearly 100 percent of our beta bookings delivered fully remotely driven. But now it’s time to listen to demand and expand,” Anand Nandakumar, founder and CEO of Halo.Car said in a statement. “Customers across Las Vegas have requested us to expand delivery to reach their neighborhood. By opening operations to the greater Las Vegas Valley we can reach 50x more customers and begin testing remote driving beyond Downtown Las Vegas. We’re thrilled to be bringing convenient and affordable EV rental to more Las Vegas residents.”

Customers can book a rental car on Halo.Car’s website, with payment and identity verification completed online. From there a remote driver based in Halo.Car’s Las Vegas office will deliver the vehicle. On concluding the booking, a driver collects the vehicle from the customer and returns it to Halo for charging and parking.

The introductory price for a rental is $120 per day or $15 per hour, according to the company’s website.

Although the cars are remotely driven, they have a driver inside for safety purposes.

The remote driver utilizes six cameras to stream video at Halo.Car’s office. The operators’ workspace is similar to that of an arcade game with a steering wheel, pedals and large computer screen.

The expansion of service includes adding 30 electric cars to Halo.Car’s fleet and hiring an additional 10 support operators. This comes following the company signing a binding agreement with Silicon Valley Bank for a $1 million venture debt facility.

“Halo.Car’s on-demand delivery service is a fantastic innovation for customers seeking easy access to an electric vehicle,” Shane Ballew, director of the southwest region at Silicon Valley Bank, said in a statement. “We are honored to work with Anand and the Halo.Car team to fund their expansion across Las Vegas and look forward to supporting their continued growth.”

Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on Twitter.