Remote-Controlled Rentals Expand in Las Vegas Valley with New Henderson Facility

In a significant development for the burgeoning “driverless rental” market, a company called Halo is expanding its footprint in Las Vegas with a new manufacturing facility in Henderson. The service, which delivers rental vehicles to customers without a driver physically present in the car, represents a novel approach to transportation that blends remote operation with traditional rental services.

According to a report by 8 News Now Las Vegas, Halo’s vehicles aren’t truly autonomous. Instead, they’re guided by “teledrivers” who remotely control the cars from a central location, delivering them directly to customers.

“There’s no driver in this car, but it’s not driving itself,” explained Ryan To, a reporter with 8 News Now who tested the service. The remote operation system resembles a sophisticated gaming setup, with multiple monitors providing drivers with a 360-degree view of the vehicle and its surroundings.

Hughley on a Terrain, Halo’s operations coordinator who began her career as one of the company’s teledrivers, provided insight into the scale of their operations. “Just to give like a rough estimate, we do happen to know about 70 to 76 rides per day,” she told 8 News Now.

The service, which launched last year after five years of testing, charges customers $0.35 per minute while driving and $0.05 per minute when the vehicle is parked. This pricing structure means a four-hour continuous drive would cost approximately $21.

Thomas van der Rohe, Halo’s CEO, outlined the company’s growth strategy: “We decided to invest more into our growth, right to go to 100 vehicles now over this upcoming year.” This expansion is facilitated by their new Henderson facility, where standard vehicles are retrofitted with camera systems and cellular signal antennas that transmit data back to Halo’s downtown Las Vegas headquarters.

Though Halo is headquartered in Germany, van der Rohe indicated that regulatory challenges in Europe influenced their decision to establish U.S. operations in Nevada. The company currently services the central Las Vegas Valley, with designated areas where customers can begin and end their rentals.

The technology behind Halo’s service represents an interesting middle ground in the evolving transportation landscape. While fully autonomous vehicles continue to face technical and regulatory hurdles, this remote-controlled approach offers some of the convenience of driverless technology while maintaining human oversight.

For Las Vegas, a city already embracing innovative transportation solutions, Halo’s expansion signals growing confidence in the market’s readiness for alternative mobility options. The new Henderson facility not only supports the company’s operational growth but also creates jobs in the emerging field of remote vehicle operation—positions that, as Terrain noted, “didn’t exist 10 years ago.”

As the service continues to expand, it may provide valuable insights into consumer acceptance of remotely operated vehicles and help shape the regulatory framework for similar technologies in the future.

*Source: 8 News Now Las Vegas*