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.

Uber expertise joins Vay in preparation for commercial launch: Claire Eagan appointed as Director Legal

Sep 11, 2023

  • Vay aims to launch a safe, affordable and sustainable door-to-door mobility service in the US, Germany and beyond
  • Vay adds legal mobility experience to prepare for a commercial launch
  • Claire Eagan has been an attorney at Uber for the past 7 years and was most recently Senior Counsel, Product & Strategy

Berlin/Las Vegas, September 11th, 2023. Vay, the leading teledriving company, has announced a new addition to its legal team: Claire Eagan starts as Director Legal. For the past 7 years, she has been with Uber, where she served in varying roles and most recently as Senior Counsel, Product & Strategy. Claire will be based in the US, where Vay recently opened an office in Las Vegas to explore the US market from there. Early 2023, Vay became the first company to drive a car with no one inside on European public streets.

At Uber, Claire held the position of Senior Counsel within the Safety Core Services Team, where her primary focus was on addressing incidents related to the platform as well as advising the business on new features within the app, new partnerships, and potential new lines of business with an eye towards risk mitigation. At Vay, she brings her knowledge of the tech mobility space and will be responsible for the US launch of Vay from a legal perspective while overseeing Vay’s global legal team. 

“Having been in the mobility space for many years, I know Vay will change the way people move around their cities and the world, and I knew I could use my experience to help bring it to market – I had to be a part of it”, Claire explains why she joined Vay. Claire will work closely with the inhouse legal team as well as external law firms in Germany and the US.

Claire received her Bachelor of Arts from the College of Charleston in South Carolina, where she grew up, before moving to Chicago to attend University of Illinois, Chicago School of Law. While in school, Claire sought a variety of experiences and was a judicial extern for the Honorable Judge Samuel Der-Yeghiayan of the Northern District of Illinois as well as a law clerk in the legal department of the Oakland Raiders. After school, Claire entered the courtroom working as an attorney in several Chicago-based law firms before joining Uber in 2016

Thomas von der Ohe, Vay’s co-founder and CEO:
“We are excited to welcome Claire as we navigate our transition into a commercial business. Given our ambitious plans for the US market, her experience in handling some of the most complex and challenging litigation within our industry holds immense value. I can’t wait to work with Claire on our next steps to launch our mobility service.”

Teledriving (remote driving) technology 
Vay is developing an alternative approach to autonomous driving called teledriving. The teledriving technology enables a person (“teledriver”) to control a vehicle remotely. Teledrivers sit at a teledrive station with a steering wheel, pedals and all necessary operation devices developed according to automotive industry standards. The visual perception is reproduced via camera sensors and transmitted to the screens of the teledrive station. Road traffic sounds, such as emergency vehicles and other warning signals, are transmitted via microphones to the teledriver’s headphones.
Early 2023, Vay became the first company to drive a car with no one inside on European public streets. Vay achieved this by remotely driving (teledriving) cars. Vay aims to launch a safe, affordable and sustainable door-to-door mobility service in the US, Germany and beyond. Vay plans to remotely deliver and return electric cars for its customers to create more liveable cities around the world.

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About Vay
Vay was the first company to drive a car without a person inside on a public road in Europe, enabled by teledriving (e.g. remote driving) technology. Vay aims to launch a sustainable, affordable, door-to-door mobility service with remotely driven (“teledriven”) cars: Teledrivers bring an electric car to the customer and pick it up after the journey is completed, eliminating the time-consuming search for a parking spot for the customer. While in the car, the customers drive themselves. Vay sees teledriving as an alternative approach to autonomous driving and aims to gradually introduce autonomous functions in its system based on high-quality teledrive data.

Vay was founded in Berlin in 2018 by Thomas von der Ohe, Fabrizio Scelsi and Bogdan Djukic. Vay’s team of 150+ people combines the best of two worlds – software & product experience from Silicon Valley and automotive hardware & safety engineering from Europe. The company has offices in Berlin and Hamburg, Germany, as well as in Las Vegas, USA. Vay raised a USD 95m Series B funding round. Investors include Kinnevik, Coatue, Eurazeo, Atomico, La Famiglia and Creandum as well as prominent business angels such as former Alphabet Chief Financial Officer Patrick Pichette, former member of the Management Board for R&D, Design, CTO of Audi Peter Mertens and Spotify’s Chief Technology & Chief Product Officer Gustav Söderström. www.vay.io

Vay press contact              
Anja Rechtsteiner
Director of Communications
[email protected] / [email protected] 
+49 176 60404217