Thomas
von der Ohe

Co-Founder, CEO

WHAT DRIVES ME

You come across an opportunity to positively impact societies around the globe maybe once in your lifetime. An opportunity to truly make a difference. Our unique approach to autonomous driving gives us this chance: redefining how people move in a better way. Building and shipping a product with this great team is what drives me day and night.

BACKGROUND

Launched Zoox’ first self-driving vehicle on public streets as leading Technical Program Manager in Silicon Valley, launched Amazon’s first Echo as leading Technical Program Manager on Device Software, Founded two (funded) mobility companies. M. Sc. Management Science and Engineering, Stanford University.

Fabrizio
Scelsi

Co-Founder, CTO

WHAT DRIVES ME

Building products together with an amazing team based on cutting-edge technology to serve a greater purpose and solve problems – for the people, for our planet.

BACKGROUND

Manager of an engineering team in Silicon Valley to build autonomous shuttles, built teams and various mobility products: electric race cars, e-motorcycles, light electric vehicles, electric passenger vehicles, including one of the most successful electric delivery vehicles in Germany. RWTH Aachen, Imperial College London.

Bogdan
Djukic

Co-founder, VP Engineering & Teledrive Experience

WHAT DRIVES ME

Vay is aiming to launch the first vehicle without a safety driver on public roads in Europe. This involves exciting engineering challenges, many of which have never been worked on before, ranging from autonomous vehicle technology, cybersecurity, backend, machine learning and safety-critical SW. Coming up with engineering solutions to these topics is something that I’m super excited to work on at Vay.

BACKGROUND

Team Lead at Microsoft, Senior Software Engineer at Skype. M. Sc. in Computer Science from Belgrade University.

Mariona
Bosch

VP Programs and Engineering Operations

WHAT DRIVES ME

Working closely with people from different cultures and professional backgrounds (hardware, software, operations, etc.) gives me the chance to learn new ways of approaching projects, structuring teams, and setting up processes every day. The results of this incredible teamwork are hugely rewarding, and visible in each step of our product.

BACKGROUND

Part of the management circle at AUDI AG, responsible for the implementation of prototypes at early development stages of new products (innovation vehicles, concept and pre-series vehicles, show cars, design models, testing single parts, PoCs, 3D-printing)

Justin
Spratt

CBO - Business & Corporate Development

WHAT DRIVES ME

What drives me is to work on goals that have a big impact on society. Additionally, I wanted to work with the smartest and most innovative people in the tech world. That’s better at Vay than any other company I’ve spoken to recently.

BACKGROUND

Responsible for global strategic partnerships at Uber, where he focused on deals with automotive OEMs, vehicle fleet operators, vehicle battery technology companies and electrification infrastructure providers. Was CEO and chief growth officer at Quirk. Began his professional life at Morgan Stanley as a fixed income trader after studying economics and finance. Built the first startup incubator in Africa in 2002 and has been mentoring founders of technology startups for over ten years. He is an angel investor in software technology and holds board positions in some of these companies.

Irene
Molins

Director of People

WHAT DRIVES ME

Driven by a passion for fostering vibrant organizational cultures, I am a seasoned leader specializing in People and Culture. Throughout my career journey, I’ve championed initiatives to empower teams, from crafting recruitment strategies aligned with core values to implementing data-driven processes for optimal People Operations.

BACKGROUND

My background spans roles where I’ve spearheaded the establishment of People departments from scratch and led teams through significant growth. I thrive on continuous learning, embracing remote/hybrid cultures and cutting-edge HR technologies. I leadled innovative solutions to optimise processes and initiatives that rewarded InfoJobs a “Best Place to Work”.
Outside of work, my passions for mountains and my dog, reflect my eagerness to explore the wild and love for 4-legs companions.

David
Gossow

Senior Principal Software Engineer

WHAT DRIVES ME

After having worked in autonomous robotics research for a long time in the Silicon Valley, I am thrilled to be working at a company that is finally bringing this technology into people’s everyday lives.

BACKGROUND

Tech Lead at Google Tango in Mountain View, Research Engineer at Willow Garage, yoga instructor since 2018.

Johanna
Loomis

Lead Industrial Designer

WHAT DRIVES ME

What drives me at Vay is the enthusiasm and passion for a vision that is embedded in the company culture, and at the same time the strict discipline in its implementation.

BACKGROUND

Industrial Product Design Lead at TEAMS DESIGN GmbH for over six years, started as a Trainee in Shanghai City. Worked as Industrial and Product Designer at LOTHAR BOHM ASSOCIATES LIMITED, Lutz Herrmann Design, Indeed Innovation and Werksdesign.

Vladimir
Bilonenko

Director of Software Engineering

WHAT DRIVES ME

Helping engineers to do their best and most important work. Elegance in software. Bringing ideas from books to real life and from one domain to another. Going from A to B fast.

BACKGROUND

Software Generalist. Maps and Mobility Geek (Lon, Lat not Lat, Lon). High Load at Yandex, Geo Analytics and Last Mile at HERE Maps, Mobility Platform at Daimler. Conway’s Law Enthusiast.

ALINA
PRESTI

Teledriver

WHAT DRIVES ME

A car enthusiast, driven by cars, driving and technology.

BACKGROUND

Nursery school teacher. Driver at Skoda’s start-up Caredriver.

Claire
Eagan

Director of Legal

WHAT DRIVES ME

I’m passionate about leveraging technology to democratize transportation and revolutionize the mobility landscape.

BACKGROUND

Senior Counsel Product & Strategy at Uber handling catastrophic loss claims and litigation, 13 years of experience in product & safety advising and risk mitigation, J.D. University of Illinois at Chicago.

Meet Dan Cadar, Teledrive trainer

Dan is working at Vay as a teledrive trainer. All teledrivers are specifically trained to drive a car remotely. They receive vast practical and theoretical training at the Vay Teledrive Academy and will finish with a teledriver certificate. In their training, they learn how to deal with all potentially upcoming traffic situations and are specifically skilled in defensive and safe driving requirements. In order to become a teledriver applicants need to have a driver’s license as well as a certain suitability for remote driving.

Dan Cadar
Dan, tell us a few things about yourself.

I love to travel but I feel like I never get to travel enough. I’m a man of many passions and hobbies including being in nature, aquascaping, growing bonsai plants, cycling, driving cars, hiking, and movies. Currently struggling to learn German but I practice as much as I can with my German-speaking colleagues.

What attracted you to work with Vay?

I like the different approach Vay has towards autonomous mobility. I really believe since the beginning that this will have a huge impact on the automotive industry. Secondly, I like the team culture. When I joined Vay in 2019, we were 28 people from over 20 countries. Now we are more than 150 with more than 30 nationalities. We have a very international team all working together and sharing this experience.

What do you like the most about working as a teledriver?

It’s a completely unique and different job from any other job I can think of. This job helps change how all of us can move  in urban areas. And we are achieving that by remotely operating a vehicle, even from miles away. How cool is that?!

How does it feel to work in an office instead of being out on the road like a taxi driver?

Way better. You have the comfort of an office, with other people around you, so you are never alone. You can take coffee breaks and chat with your colleagues or just have lunch together.

What are the qualifications you had to have to land the job of one of the first teledrivers at Vay?

I never worked as a professional driver, but I always had a passion for driving cars in general. I participated in an intensive training with Europe’s largest motoring association Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil Club (ADAC) for PKW (passenger cars) with a theory session followed by a practical session on the test track.

Also, my enthusiastic character might have played a role. I am a very open and communicative person which allowed me to build up a set of skills from different work domains. I think the most important skills that are relevant for teledriving (apart from very good driving skills) are a strong sense for safety and responsibility.

What kind of training do you have to do at Vay?

This is the best part of this job. I am responsible for training the first generation of commercial teledrivers (that’s what I like to call them). In order to become a teledriver, the trainees have to go through our Vay Teledrive Academy, which includes:

  • Theory sessions
  • Theory test
  • Intensive practical training
  • Getting certified before driving into public streets
What’s your favorite part of the job?

Training the future teledrivers and working with people from different countries and backgrounds together as a team in our office.

Explain to us what a usual shift looks like.
  • Coffee or tea from 8am while we go through the plan for the day for 15-20min
  • Following the rest of the day executing engineering tests and/or training the new employees
  • Sometimes we also have important demos, where we pick up external visitors from different locations within the city and teledrive them back to our Berlin office, or Hamburg office. I have teledriven politicians, investors and journalists.
Do you think teledriving could be the job of the future for drivers?

Definitely yes, it is safe, comfortable, and more sociable. You are also getting paid per hour and not per ride.

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