'Driverless but not Autonomous - yet' - Commercial Robocar Hire Service Fetch Launches in the UK

British startup Imperium Drive has launched Fetch, a new on-demand car-hailing service using remote-controlled driverless vehicles. Fetch is the world’s first commercial car rental service enabled by remote driving technology.

The service is first launching as a paying service in the city of Milton Keynes before being rolled out across the UK, to connect with other urban areas and key transport interchanges, such as airports.

Customers can hire a car through the Fetch app, stating when they need it and for how long.

An electric vehicle (EV), which is remotely controlled by an operator, is then be delivered to them.

The customer then drives the car themselves to their destination and when the rental period is up, the remote vehicle operator takes over and pilots the car back to base or to the next user.

There are currently four cars in the Imperium Drive fleet, operating within a four-mile radius of the Milton Keynes city centre hub.

To ensure the safety of occupants and other road users, the cars have multiple cameras attached to them, giving the operator a 360-degree view, and the operating system uses computer image algorithms to detect anything near the car.

Koosha Kaveh, the Chief Executive of Imperium Drive, says: “It's driverless but not autonomous - yet. There's still a human involved, but they're sitting in a control centre piloting the vehicle in the same way you would a drone. When fully autonomous, we think this system has the potential to replace private car ownership in the UK. Why pay all the costs of having a car on your drive when you can just pay for one to arrive when you need it. For short trips, the service offers the same convenience as a ride-hailing or taxi service, but with the ability to cover greater distances at less than half the cost of services like Uber or Bolt.”

The launch of Fetch follows an 18-month trial backed by UK government and industry.