TALLINN, July 8, 2024 — Elmo, an innovative deep-tech developer of remote-controlled car technology and provider of eco-friendly car-sharing services, and Elonroad, a provider of charging solutions, proudly announce the inauguration of the world’s first fully automatic charging station for teledriven cars, marking a significant milestone in sustainable transportation.

Located in the heart of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, the charging facility was inaugurated as the world’s first for teledriven vehicles to charge on an automatic conductive rail. Elmo’s road-legal teledrivable Nissan Leaf and Renault Zoe, which received special retrofitting by Elonroad, were both presented during the automatic charging rail opening event.

Elmo, a leader in developing remotely controlled technology and its application in car-sharing, road safety and other sectors, needed fully automated charging systems to keep charging interruptions at a minimum, reduce the extra workforce and extra driving to and from Elmo’s HQ, to charge the teledriven cars where no physical person can go out and charge the vehicle manually.

For electric vehicles equipped with teledriven technology, the reliance on cable-based charging systems presents significant operational challenges, underscoring the need for automatic charging. A first step in this direction is the inauguration of the automatic charging system in Tallinn, eliminating the need for human intervention, optimizing operational efficiency, and supporting seamless teledriven vehicle operations. In the future, Elmo plans to roll out more charging stations to support its technology licensing scaling globally.

The project is co-funded by EIT Urban Mobility, an initiative of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union.

Enn Laansoo, Jr., CEO and Co-Founder of Elmo, shared his excitement about the integration: “Humanless charging is vital for maintaining our leadership in the rapidly expanding teledriving sector. It underscores our strategic approach to remotely controlled vehicles and highlights the remarkable momentum that teledriving technology has built over the last year and a half.”

Karin Ebbinghaus, CEO Elonroad, ” We are now ready to assist Elmo and their partners as they scale their business,” says Karin. “It is very interesting for us to carry out this type of project in a country like Estonia, which is at the forefront of digitalization. Furthermore, the project represents a perfect combination of the two megatrends of electrification and sharing economy.”

The inauguration event was honored by a special presentation from Andrea Costa of the EIT Urban Mobility, emphasizing the project’s role in achieving broader sustainable transportation goals. EIT Urban Mobility’s Interim Director of Innovation, Dr. Adriana Diaz, added “Our funding of Elonroad’s charge stations reflects our strong belief in its potential to advance sustainable mobility. By automating EV charging and extending battery life, this technology reduces wait times and decreases reliance on raw materials for energy storage. We’re also excited to partner with ELMO, as Connected and Automated Mobility (CCAM) vehicles are crucial for transforming transportation. This forward-looking collaboration combines cutting-edge technologies to drive innovation in sustainable road transport, aligning with Europe’s vision to lead in CCAM innovation, enhancing mobility, reclaiming time, and improving road safety”.

About Elmo: Elmo is the company behind the world’s first road-legal tele-driving technology development that has been in operation in public car-sharing services since 2022. Additionally, technology is used in the road safety sector on TMA Truck. Elmo’s tele-drivable cars started daily operations on public streets in two cities in Estonia and Helsinki, Finland, and have gathered valuable experience from public streets of Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, Netherlands, Lithuania, the US and other countries. Elmo’s vision is to transform mobility and increase sustainability with innovative remote driving solutions. More information about Elmo. 

About Elonroad: Elonroad is a Swedish cleantech company specializing in conductive charging technology, offering automated dynamic and static solutions for electric vehicles. By integrating charging rails directly into the road, Elonroad enables vehicles to charge on the go and for logistic companies when they load or unload, boosting operational efficiency and reducing downtime. Elonroad’s charging solutions significantly decrease CO2 impact and lower the total cost of ownership by up to 40%. Elonroad is working on projects such as the first electric highway outside Paris in collaboration with VINCI. Additionally, the company is partnering with Aisin, a global leader in automotive components, and supporting several logistics companies like Elis with their charging infrastructure. More information about Elonroad.

About IT Urban Mobility: EIT Urban Mobility, an initiative of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union, aims to accelerate solutions and the transition towards a user-centric, integrated and truly multimodal transport system. As the leading European innovation community for urban mobility, EIT Urban Mobility works to avoid fragmentation by facilitating collaboration between cities, industry, academia, research and innovation to solve the most pressing mobility challenges of cities. Using cities as living labs, its industry, research and university partners will demonstrate how new technologies can work to solve real problems in real cities by transporting people, goods and waste in smarter ways. More information about EIT Urban Mobility.

For more information please contact:
Enn Laansoo Jr, CEO & co-founder Elmo
Email: enn@elmoremote.com
Phone: + 372 521 6858

Karin Ebbinghaus, CEO Elonroad
Email: Karin@elonroad.com
Phone: + 46 70 339 5542

Elmo, the world’s first developer of street-legal teledrivable technology in car-sharing services, set a new record in the field of remote-controlled street vehicles by teleoperating a Nissan Leaf electric car from an impressive distance of 2100 kilometers away using its remote driving technology. This monumental event took place with the vehicle navigating the roads of Rotterdam, Netherlands, while being remotely controlled from Tallinn, Estonia.

A milestone in teledriving technology

In an unparalleled demonstration of innovation and collaboration, Elmo partnered with Dutch Automated Mobility, a pioneer in autonomous vehicle technology, to achieve this feat. Alwin Bakker, co-founder of Dutch Automated Mobility, shared his excitement about the historic moment, stating, “This historic journey is not just a milestone for Elmo and our partnership but a giant leap forward in demonstrating the practical capabilities and reliability of teledriving technology.”

Enn Laansoo, Jr., the visionary founder and CEO of Elmo, humorously remarked, “They say it’s about the journey, not the destination. Thanks to teledriving, we’re proving you can have the best of both worlds, all from the comfort of your office. This achievement places Elmo at the forefront of the mobility sector’s most discussed innovations.”

Elmo’s recent success was further highlighted as the company emerged as a finalist at the prestigious Netherland’s Automotive Innovation Award 2024, underscoring its significant contributions to the automotive and car-sharing sectors through advancements in teledriving technology.

The previous record was set 2 months earlier, in December, when an Elmo remote driver controlled an electric car driving on the snowy roads of Tallinn from 610km away in Vilnius. Elmo and Dutch Automated Mobility started their collaboration in September last year, and an introductory video featuring an interview with the Estonian Ambassador to the Netherlands can be found here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFyyLbU5uPA

The future of mobility

Elmo’s pioneering journey offers a glimpse into the present and to the near future where distance and location pose no barriers to vehicle remote operation. This achievement not only showcases the potential for autonomous and selfdriving vehicle technology but also strengthens the belief that teledriving technology works already in present. 

Check also the simple video about “Elmo sets new milestone in teledriving: 2100km remote driving between Estonia and Netherlands”, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF9vp7zlOwk

About Dutch Automated Mobility

Dutch Automated Mobility stands at the forefront of autonomous and remote-controlled systems, specializing in automated transport solutions for both people and logistics. With a proven track record in the Netherlands, they are committed to the safe and successful implementation of autonomous technology.

About Elmo

Elmo is renowned for introducing the world’s first road-legal teledriving technology. Teleoperating daily on public streets since 2022 across Tallinn, Tartu (Estonia), and Helsinki (Finland), Elmo’s teledrivable cars are at the heart of gathering invaluable experiences from across the globe, including in Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands, and the US.

For more information on Elmo’s innovations and Dutch Automated Mobility’s contributions to the future of teledriving, please contact:

Enn Laansoo, Jr.

CEO and Co-founder

Elmo, 

enn@elmoremote.com

Alwin Bakker

Co-founder and Director

Dutch Automated Mobility

alwin.bakker@thefuturemobility.network

call 0614184366

Elmo is proud to kick off the year with a significant development that underscores our commitment to pushing the boundaries of teledriving technology and safety at highway works. A special gift from Canada has just arrived at our workshop – the Ford F550 crash truck, generously shipped by our partners at RSG International.

This powerful vehicle has been strategically chosen for its suitability in showcasing the robust capabilities of Elmo’s teledriving technology. The retrofitting process is now underway, as our skilled team gears up to integrate our cutting-edge solutions into the very framework of this formidable machine.

The arrival of the Ford F550 crash truck represents more than just a physical milestone; it symbolizes a shared vision for global impact in the realm of highway safety. This collaboration transcends borders and demonstrates the interconnectedness of our efforts to make roads safer worldwide.

For those curious about the intricate details of our partnership and the journey toward making highway safety even safer, we invite you to explore our dedicated article: Revolutionizing Road Safety: Elmo licenses its technology to global road safety leader RSG international.

Elmo, who is the world’s first street legal teledriving technology developr whose technology is used in car-sharing services since 2022, has made history in the field of teledriving. For the first time, a passanger car was teledriven between countries and on snowy roads, with Elmo’s technology controlling a teledrivable car in Tallinn, Estonia, from the capital city of Lithuania, Vilnius. During the journey, which lasted over half an hour, there were no communication interruptions or technological setbacks. 

“Many of our potential customers have inquired about international teledriving, and it is gratifying to see that our technology works flawlessly. From a technological perspective, our system operated with the same latency and quality 600 km away as it does when in the same city,” rejoices Elmo’s founder and CEO, Enn Laansoo, Jr. “From Elmo’s perspective, it is important to demonstrate that our technology, developed for 4G, actually functions over such distances, and through valuable experience, we have practically proven this.” 

“After our initial meeting at last year’s Toulouse ITS Congress, I invited the Elmo team to our Transport Innovation Forum in Vilnius this year, and it was surprising to see the progress in the meantime. We are proud that Lithuania was involved in this historic event in the remote control sector,” said Asta Kazlauskienė, the Strategic Partnership Manager at the Lithuanian Transport Innovation Association. “Lithuania is a very good place for testing innovative teledriving and autonomous technologies, and through practical demonstration, we were able to introduce the wide potential of teledriving to logistics and transport entrepreneurs during the forum.” 

The teledriving of a car on the roads of Tallinn, Estonia, from the capital Vilnius, Lithuania, took place during the Transport Innovation Forum on November 23-24. Elmo was recognized by the forum’s jury as the technology company with the greatest potential. It is also noteworthy from a technological standpoint that, in addition to the car being on a 4G network, the remote operator’s workspace in Vilnius was connected to a 4G network (meaning both ends had a 4G connection), which is typically connected to a more stable and faster wired connection. Legislation for cross-border teledriving still needs further development. 

To date, Elmo has teledriven its technology and gained valuable experience in nine countries (including the USA), over 25 cities, obtained street driving permits in three countries, and operates daily teledriving services on public roads in Estonia and Finland.  Elmo is an Estonian company specializing in the development of innovative deep-tech technology for teledrivable cars (see elmoremote.com). In 2022, Elmo became the world’s first deep-tech company to introduce its street-legal teledrivable cars and certified teledrivers into real car-sharing services. Elmo’s teledrivable car has been driven and showcased for licensing purposes on the streets of major cities such as Paris, Munich, Hannover, Hamburg, Zurich, Vienna, Helsinki, Rotterdam, Vilnius, Los Angeles, and others.

Estonian deep-tech developer Elmo, which introduced teledriving technology as a service globally last year, has received approval from the Lithuanian Ministry of Transport to commence teledriving on public roads in Lithuania. As part of the “Transport Innovation Forum,” Elmo is testing teledriving from Vilnius with a car located in Estonia. This makes Lithuania the third country to accept Elmo’s street-legal teledriven car.

“While autonomous technologies and vehicles have garnered significant attention and reshaped laws for their introduction to the streets, teledriving, ready for market use today, is gaining attention rapidly. It’s gratifying to see that Elmo has gained trust with its practical experience, and our functional technology is finding favor with both regulators and customers,” said Elmo’s founder and CEO, Enn Laansoo Jr.

In May of last year, Elmo introduced its teledriven car at the European ITS Congress in Toulouse and received an invitation to participate in the largest transport and logistics conference in the Baltic States, the “Transport Innovation Forum 2023,” held in Vilnius. Over the past year, teledriving and its technology have gained swift attention globally, even amid the rise of autonomous driving technologies. Elmo’s second-generation technology has secured street approval, accumulating over a year of service and driving on public streets.

“We have valuable experience and confidence to test cross-border teledriving at speeds exceeding 40 km/h. If the testing is successful and we accumulate sufficient kilometers, we are prepared to apply for a permit to drive without a safety driver,” added Laansoo Jr.

To date, Elmo has remotely operated its technology and gained valuable experience in 8 countries (including the USA) and over 25 cities. The company holds street-driving permits and operates its teledriving doorstep delivery service daily on public roads in Estonia and Finland. Simultaneously, Elmo is negotiating with several major cities with the goal of starting teledriving car services in at least three different countries in 2023.

In 2022, Elmo became the world’s first deep-tech company to introduce its street-legal teledriven cars and certified teledrivers from the Estonian Transport Authority into real-world car-sharing services. Elmo’s teledriven car has been driven and demonstrated to clients for technology licensing purposes in the streets of major cities such as Paris, Munich, Hanover, Zurich, Vienna, Helsinki, Rotterdam, Los Angeles, and others.

Elmo is an Estonian company primarily focused on developing innovative deep-tech technology for teledriven cars (see elmoremote.com) and offering environmentally friendly vehicle-sharing services (see elmorent.ee). Elmo is the first responsibly certified car rental company in Estonia.

Elmo, the Estonian company behind the world’s first road-legal teledriving technology, is proud to announce a licensing agreement with RSG International, a renowned global leader in the road safety sector and well-known for its cutting-edge research and road safety product development. This collaboration marks a significant milestone in advancing road safety technology and creating new opportunities in the field.

Elmo’s teledriving technology, which is currently in operation on public streets, has caught the attention of RSG International due to its transformative potential for the road safety sector. Under the terms of the agreement, Elmo will license its technology to RSG International, allowing for the retrofitting of teledriving technology onto RSG’s Ford F550 crash trucks. Additionally, Elmo will work on integrating new features into its teledriving station, making it more accessible for individuals with disabilities to operate the station and forging new career paths within the road safety industry.

“We have tested self-driving vehicles, but teledriving is a much more effective solution for the road safety sector, both today and in the future. When Elmo picked us up at the airport in their teledriven car and drove us to the hotel, we immediately understood that this was the company we wanted to partner with,” stated Elliot Steele, Vice President of Technology at RSG International.

RSG International’s decision to partner with Elmo follows rigorous validation and analysis of the teledriving solution’s potential for their operations. The collaboration is expected to yield strategic benefits for both organizations.

Enn Laansoo, Jr., CEO and Founder of Elmo, commented, “RSG International opens three very strategic doors for us. First is the road safety sector, where we can license our teledriving technology. The second is the Ford F550, which is a well-used platform in various other sectors. RSG will become the missing puzzle piece for our North America market strategy.”

The overarching goal of this partnership is to enhance road safety by retrofitting existing crash trucks with teledrivable technology, removing human operators from these vehicles and thereby reducing risks to human lives. Furthermore, the agreement seeks to expand the capabilities of teledrivers, creating new job functions in the modern road safety sector.

About RSG International:

RSG International is a globally recognized leader in the road safety sector, comprising a conglomerate of industry-leading road safety businesses across North America. These include B&K Enterprises, Dimensional Products, RoadBlock Solutions, Pivot Safety Products, Peninsula Construction, Powell Contracting, Summit Rentals, and more. Together, these companies cover all aspects of road safety infrastructure, including product development, distribution, installation, and traffic management.

For more information, please visit RSG International’s website.