autonomous

Elmo sets 157 km/h remote driving record at F1 Circuit Barcelona with street-legal Nissan Leaf over live commercial mobile network

Posted on March 3, 2026March 3, 2026 by Elmo

Barcelona / Tallinn – March 2026 – As a part of the CircuitX showcase held alongside MWC26 Barcelona (2–5 March), European mobility technology company Elmo set a new global remote driving speed record , reaching 157 km/h with a street-legal Nissan Leaf at the iconic F1 Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

The previous record of 115 km/h has now been significantly surpassed — twice — confirming that high-speed, road-legal remote driving is already in active public operation.

First run: 150 km/h – remote driver trackside

The first record-breaking run reached 150 km/h and was performed by licensed remote driver Risto Parri, who controlled the vehicle from a Generation 1 remote driving station located trackside at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

“It’s actually pretty crazy to become a new world record holder — even if only for a moment — and to do it on the legendary F1 circuit in Barcelona. Driving 150 km/h with no one sitting in the car proudly demonstrates the high level and maturity of our technology,” said Risto Parri, licensed remote driver at Elmo.

Second run: 157 km/h – 3,300 km cross-border remote control

The record was broken again shortly after, when Enn Laansoo, Jr., licensed remote driver and CEO of Elmo, controlled the same street-legal Nissan Leaf with Generation 3 remote driving station from Elmo’s headquarters in Tallinn, 3,300 km away, reaching 157 km/h — effectively the maximum speed officially permitted for the vehicle.

This high-speed cross-border remote driving test demonstrates that modern commercial mobile networks (5G) are already capable of supporting globally scalable teleoperation, including high-speed applications.

“Driving a vehicle at 157 km/h from 3,300 kilometers away proves that distance is no longer the limiting factor for high-speed remote driving. This is further evidence that remote driving is a practical and scalable alternative to full autonomy in many use cases,” said Enn Laansoo, Jr., adding, “I am extremely proud of the team effort and the result of six years of dedicated development of our remote driving technology.”

Elmo has been operating remotely controlled vehicles in public service since 2022, becoming the first company globally to commercialize road-legal remote driving at scale. The Barcelona milestone builds on years of real-world operational experience.

5G, network quality & global partners

The demonstration was conducted in collaboration with Telefónica, providing local connectivity; Nokia, monitoring network performance and quality parameters in real time; and GSMA, organizer of the broader MWC26 ecosystem.

“Huge congratulations to the Elmo team on their incredible achievement. Breaking a land‑speed record at the CircuitX demo showcase provides a glimpse into the future of connected mobility. What we saw at the Circuit de Barcelona‑Catalunya proves how advanced connectivity, real‑time data and engineering excellence can come together to push the limits of performance and safety. Elmo’s record‑setting run captures the spirit of innovation that CircuitX was built to showcase, and we’re proud to celebrate this moment with them.” — Richard Cockle, Head of GSMA Foundry.

GSMA Fusion and Elmo have also been collaborating closely with the mobile industry through the GSMA Open Gateway initiative to validate network capabilities for remote driving. As part of this work, the companies have been exploring how Open Gateway network APIs – including Quality on Demand, location, and edge compute – can support the consistent, low-latency connectivity required for teleoperation. By enabling common, standardized network interfaces across operators, Open Gateway helps ensure that remote driving solutions can scale globally without bespoke integrations, aligning with broader automotive industry calls for interoperable, future-ready connectivity frameworks.

This builds upon Elmo’s previous long-distance remote driving milestones, including the 4,300 km cross-border record from Doha to Tallinn during Doha MWC25 and the earlier 3,400 km record from year ago, reinforcing Elmo’s position as a global leader in road-legal remote driving technology.

A practical alternative to full autonomy

Unlike fully autonomous vehicles requiring complex AI stacks, high hardware costs and additional remote drivers support, Elmo’s remote driving modular platform enables low latency real-time human-in-control operation, integration into existing vehicles, immediate regulatory compliance, and rapid deployment across urban, logistics, and defense use cases.

The F1 circuit test confirms that teledriving technology can handle not only urban driving but also high-speed, performance-critical environments, over very long distance.

About Elmo

Elmo is a European mobility deep-tech company and the world’s first to commercialize road-legal remote driving in public operations. Since 2022, Elmo has operated remotely controlled vehicles on public streets across Europe and demonstrated cross-border teleoperation at distances exceeding 4,300 km.

Its technology enables safe, scalable remote operation via 4G/5G, satellite, and multi-network architectures — with applications in smart mobility, logistics, and defense.

About GSMA

The GSMA is a global organization unifying the mobile ecosystem to discover, develop and deliver innovation foundational to positive business environments and societal change. Our vision is to unlock the full power of connectivity so that people, industry, and society thrive. Representing mobile operators and organizations across the mobile ecosystem and adjacent industries, the GSMA delivers for its members across three broad pillars: Connectivity for Good, Industry Services and Solutions, and Outreach. This activity includes advancing policy, tackling today’s biggest societal challenges, underpinning the technology and interoperability that make mobile work, and providing the world’s largest platform to convene the mobile ecosystem at the MWC and M360 series of events.

More information:

Elmo
info@elmoremote.com

Elmo gains approval for higher-speed driverless teledriving with AI-braking technology

Posted on November 18, 2024June 30, 2025 by Elmo

Elmo, the Estonian company behind the world’s first road-legal teledriving technology, has achieved a major milestone in remote technology innovation. The Estonian Traffic Department has officially validated Elmo’s AI-powered autonomous braking system, enabling its teledrive technology to operate without a safety driver at higher speeds and without area restrictions. This advancement in driverless mobility further solidifies Elmo’s leadership in the teledriving sector, offering safe, scalable, and robust communication protocols for technology solutions in urban mobility, road safety, and military applications.

Enn Laansoo, Jr., CEO and co-founder of Elmo, commented, “Our team is very happy with technological and regulatory progress we have made in the past year, which allows us now to focus on delivering our solutions to our clients. Our pipeline of clients includes multiple car-sharing operators, road safety, and military players in the EU, including Germany, with further potential expansion into the Middle East and the U.S. Parallel to sales, we’re also advancing AI and machine learning upgrades to ensure an even safer teledriving experience, focusing on both functional safety and operational safety standards.”

“This milestone underscores Elmo’s technological leadership in remote driving technology and strength of its technical resources, capable of efficiently developing road ready driverless AI powered solutions.” stated Ragnar Meitern, Managing Partner of Highgoal Capital, an early investor in Elmo and other fast growing tech companies in the mobility sector, including Bolt. “Their goal-oriented progress and operational experience position Elmo uniquely for large-scale expansion, making them an even more attractive deep-tech company in the transport sector.”

Since launching the first road-legal teledrive service in public car sharing in Estonia and Finland, Elmo has deployed its technology on public roads in Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Helsinki, Zurich, Krakow, Los Angeles etc and soon on Ontario highways. This extensive deployment makes Elmo the most widely tested and applied teledriving solution on the market, showcasing its commitment to regulatory compliance and safety features. Elmo’s remotely controlled 4×4 vehicles are also in active use on the frontlines in Ukraine, supporting crucial operations in challenging conditions.

Elmo has further demonstrated cross-border teledriving with a record 2,500 km journey between teledriver in Croatia and e-car in Finland using 4G and 5G, in partnership with Nokia and Deutsche Telekom‘s Croatian operator Hravtski Telekom. This achievement highlights the potential of human-machine collaboration in long-distance remote vehicle control and operation.

Jürgo Vahtra, Head of the Estonian Traffic Department, praised Elmo’s systematic approach to safety, stating, “Elmo has balanced technology development with practical experience, making their progress safe and reliable. Their AI-driven SOS braking system, performed flawlessly in our tests, which was instrumental in granting approval for driverless high-speed operations”.

Elmo’s technology provides a practical alternative to fully autonomous vehicles, offering the efficiency of teledriving with lower hardware and deployment costs. Richard Woller, Co-Founder & CEO of technology consulting firm schwarzenberg.tech, commented, “Elmo’s combination of regulatory achievement and real-world deployment across sectors based on a smart technology sets the stage for a next era of adaptable mobility services. We believe that tele-operated driving is key in automated mobility and are impressed by the strong and solution-driven team at Elmo.”

With its ongoing fundraising round, Elmo is actively seeking to expand its capabilities and build on its global footprint. The company is planning to enhance its European operations and is considering a launch to enter to Northern American market, potentially introducing technology licensing to car rental, road safety and military companies. This latest approval not only sets the stage for Elmo’s next phase of growth but also presents a compelling opportunity for investors, clients, and cities interested in cutting-edge teledriving technology for a variety of use cases, including driverless taxis and affordable transportation options.

For more information, please visit www.elmoremote.com.

For media inquiries and further information, please contact:

Enn Laansoo Jr.

CEO and Founder

Elmo

Email: enn@elmoremote.com

Drive into the future with Nokia’s Network as Code, Elisa and Elmo cars

Posted on July 15, 2024July 16, 2024 by Elmo

Original post by Shkumbin Hamiti from Nokia blog.

In “Back to the Future,” Doc Brown famously said, “Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.” While we haven’t quite reached that level of futuristic travel yet, a groundbreaking proof of concept (PoC) took place in late spring 2024. A car was remotely driven through the public streets of Espoo at Nokia Headquarters, Finland, and during the Imagine Metaverse expo in Tampere.

This successful PoC was the result of a collaboration between Elmo Cars, a pioneer in remote driving technology and the holder of the title for the world’s first road-legal teledrivable cars in car-sharing services since 2022, and telecommunication leaders Elisa and Nokia.

How does this remarkable technology work? Priit Haljak, co-founder and CTO of Elmo, explains: “Elmo develops teledriving technology by equipping cars with multiple cameras and a custom controller for remote driving. With two years of experience in heavy traffic worldwide, our technology is mature. We are proud to be working with global players like Nokia and Elisa.”

Navigating crowded areas presents significant challenges. Network issues and peak time overload can degrade video quality, making it difficult for remote drivers to clearly see the road, surroundings, and traffic signals, thus ensuring the highest safety.

To overcome this challenge, Elmo integrated Nokia’s Quality of Service on Demand (QoD) capability from the Network as Code platform. This capability dynamically adjusts the network to ensure connectivity for Elmo cars, guaranteeing that even during periods of high network traffic, the cars receive the high-quality video feed necessary for safe operation. Juha Saarinen, Technological Manager at Elisa, comments on Elisa’s role in today’s Proof of Concept: “For Elisa, collaboration with partners like Elmo and Nokia is fundamental, especially when it comes to proving the true value of the latest 5G technologies.”

The PoC demonstrated real-time integration and immediate improvements in video quality during network congestion. Network as Code also enables critical device status and network insights, offering valuable information about device connectivity and potential network issues.

Additionally, Nokia’s Network as Code (NaC) serves as an aggregator, allowing for the seamless management of connections through a single interface, regardless of the network provider or country.

Want to know more? Check out this video!

Experience the future of programmable networks with Nokia’s Network as Code. Buckle up and enjoy the ride!

About Shkumbin Hamiti

Shkumbin is a twenty-five-year Nokia veteran based in Espoo. His distinguished career with Nokia includes successful track record of spearheading, leading, developing and influencing some of most significant developments within the mobile industry. Shkumbin held key technology leadership positions in standardization, ecosystem development, devices, GTM partnerships, and business line management. He is named as inventor in 12 granted patents and author of several technical publications. He is currently heading Nokia’s Network Monetization Platform Business Unit helping industry to unleash the power of 5G networks.
Born in Prishtina, Kosovo, Shkumbin studied in Zagreb, Croatia and after a brief time in Bangkok, Thailand he moved to Finland where he has lived since 1996. Married with two teenage sons, he is passionate about aviation and enjoys playing chess.

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