REMOTE WORKING

A deep-tech firm is driving a car remotely around real roads in Milton Keynes – all from its office - using cameras, 4G wi-fi and computer screens. John Evans takes a ride

- John Evans

In a small office in the centre of Milton Keynes, a young man wearing earphones sits in a car seat staring intently at a bank of computer screens and grasping a steering wheel festooned with buttons, his feet resting on pedals. He could be an office worker ducking out to play a driving game in the designated ‘chill zone’, except that rather than scrapping with a fellow racer, he’s about to drive me around the town in a Kia Niro – remotely.

Welcome to autonomous driving, Fetch style. The company, formed in 2019, plans to start offering driverless car rentals within a three-mile, and later a five-mile, radius of the centre of Milton Keynes in around 18 months’ time. You’ll hail your Niro, or another electric model, on the company's mobile app and in minutes it'll arrive, guided by a remote driver in place of the person you'd expect to find in the driving seat. You'll hop in and drive off. When you've finished, you'll park the car at a location of your choice, albeit within Fetch's operating area, climb out and watch in wonder as it's spirited away to its next booking. The point is you'll have been saved the hassle of trekking to an available rental car and, at the end of your booking, parking it in a dedicated space rather than where it suits you to. Fetch also plans to offer the option of extending the driverless service by enabling users nervous of driving in a city or of parking, for example, to be driven remotely.

"How appealing would it be if I can get a car to you faster than you can get to your own and take it away faster than you can park it?" Koosha Kaveh, co-founder of Imperium Drive, owner of Fetch, asks me. "Our goal is not only to be the first commercial driverless service in the UK but to help eradicate private car ownership through the convenience of shared mobility."