Belgium’s First Remote-Driven Car Rental Service Launches

Poppy Mobility, Belgium’s leading car-sharing and rental operator, is introducing remote-driving technology for delivering rental cars. The test operations - which are the first in Belgium - will be carried out around the Port of Antwerp-Bruges are in collaboration with Ush, a developer of autonomous and remote-controlled vehicle solutions in Belgium.

Soon, Poppy users will be able to request a rental vehicle via the Poppy app, which Ush will drive remotely to their location in real-time.

They can then choose to take the wheel themselves or be driven by a remote driver operating from a teledrive station at Ush’s headquarters.

Poppy hopes for a full commercial roll out in the city of Antwerp starting in 2026.

This offering is supported by Germany's Vay, a developer of automotive-grade technology for remote-driving.

Vay is currently operating a commercial service in Las Vegas, Nevada.

It is expanding its door-to-door remote-driving service to 100 vehicles in Las Vegas in 2025, having recently gone past the 6,000 trips milestone. 

Ush has secured an exclusive partnership with Vay to further develop and commercialise its proprietary technology in Belgium.

Max Levandowski, CEO of Ush, says: “Bringing remote-driving technology to Belgium requires a careful, phased approach in collaboration with regulators. We chose to start at a manageable scale with two vehicles serving key locations in the port.”

Thomas von der Ohe, CEO and founder of Vay, adds: “I moved back to Europe from Silicon Valley and joined my co-founders to take advantage of our continent’s world leading automotive engineering excellence. With this partnership with Ush and Poppy, we’re thrilled to see our vision for the future of mobility taking shape. Remotely driven vehicles are taking to European roads - for a commercial service - for the first time. With the support of regulators, we hope this will be the first of many exciting, remote drive-enabled projects across Europe.”

Vay has raised almost $150 million in funding from global investors.