A new partnership has been announced between Mapless AI and Aero Corporation to pilot tele-operations with remote human operators on Aero’s rental fleet, initially focusing on EVs.
Aero Corporation is one of the largest North American franchisees of the Avis and Budget brands, with more than 35 rental locations in five states with a fleet over 4,000 cars. The partners will test tele-operating fleet management applications, such as off-rent vehicle shuttling and EV charging, for increased efficiencies and economies of scale. They will also test customer-facing applications, such as tele-operated curbside vehicle and passenger pickup and drop-off, for increased customer satisfaction and incremental revenue services.
Solomon Cramer, president of Aero Corporation, said, “We believe that safe, efficient tele-operations, specifically Mapless AI’s unique platform, has the potential to significantly improve our business and change the car rental industry in the long-term for the better.”
Philipp Robbel, co-founder and CEO of Mapless AI, said, “Our goal is that a series of successful pilots will lead to the first true commercial deployments of tele-operations in the rental industry.”
Mapless AI’s tele-operations platform is already active in pilot initiatives at Pittsburgh International Airport and in Detroit, Michigan. It builds on the co-founders’ experience leading safety and engineering teams for AV development at Uber, Apple and Aptiv. It is the first tele-operations platform to incorporate purpose-built active safety systems for commercial operation on public roads.