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.

Vay and ioki are teaming up for world’s first remotely driven on-demand service in public transport

  • Leading remote driving (teledriving) company Vay and ioki, market leader for on-demand technology in public transportation (ridepooling), have sealed their cooperation
  • Together, they aim to combine teledriving and ridepooling to launch the first teledriven on-demand service in public transport
  • A powerful digital solution to driver shortages in the public transport sector: Reducing costs and increasing efficiency and availability of flexible public transport

(Frankfurt/Berlin, 15 February 2024) The partnership of Vay and ioki allows teledrive technology to deliver on-demand, cost-efficient, and digital mobility services. Users request a vehicle via the app. A teledriven car, operated by a specially trained teledriver from a teledrive centre, arrives shortly after. The ioki Platform’s algorithm calculates the route, facilitates ridepooling, and serves as the booking interface for users. For the first time users will be transported by a teledriven on-demand service in public transport.

“I am convinced that teledriving is a promising key technology to gradually introduce driverless public transportation. With Vay, we have a strong partner who shares our vision of driverless mobility integrated into everyday life. We want to make a positive and short-term contribution to the currently acute driver shortage issues in Germany and Europe by using more digitisation and technology in public transport”, says Michael Barillère-Scholz, CEO and co-founder of ioki GmbH. 

Shortly after booking a vehicle, the customers will be picked up and driven to their desired destination. Whether users ride in a regular vehicle or a teledriven vehicle is individually decided by the ioki algorithm. In perspective, it could supplement existing on-demand transport, thus avoiding empty runs. This would lower costs and simultaneously increase the availability of local transport. 

“With our unique door-to-door mobility service enabled by our teledrive technology we want to create an affordable and convenient alternative for transportation in metropolitan areas. ioki’s innovative platform solution accelerates the introduction of our sustainable and efficient mobility services for public transport. Together, we work towards our goal of significantly reducing the number of privately owned cars in cities”, says Fabrizio Scelsi, co-founder & CTO of Vay. 

Vay and ioki are currently in contact with interested transport companies to test the link between on-demand and teledriven technology. The first pilot projects could start next year. 

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About ioki

ioki is the leading European technology company for digital mobility and a pioneer in autonomous driving in public transport. Since the company was founded in 2017, companies, cities and municipalities in 11 countries have relied on the expertise of ioki. With more than 130 flexible on-demand services and over 4.5 million passengers, ioki is the market leader for demand-responsive mobility in the DACH region. These include flagship projects such as ioki Hamburg (now hvv hop) and Germany’s first self-driving public bus.  

The company offers innovative platform solutions for demand-responsive and regular public transport services, data-based transport planning and digital navigation applications for public buses. With its software-as-a-service and consulting services, ioki enables digital solutions for sustainable mobility. 190 employees from over 20 nations are working from Frankfurt on the vision of digital public transport. ioki GmbH is an independent subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn. 

ioki
Xenia Rowley
Head of Marketing & Communications
+49 152 321 071 44
news@ioki.com
www.ioki.com 

Vay
Isabella v. Zastrow
Communications Coordinator
Isabella.Zastrow@vay.io / press@vay.io
+49 176 60404217