Halo Car, a Las Vegas-based startup that combines teleoperations and car sharing, said it will remove the human safety operator from behind the wheel later this year — the last hurdle before its commercial launch.

The milestone would mean Halo Car will use humans to remotely control vehicles through public streets and deliver them to its car-sharing service customers. These fully remote deliveries will mark the official launch of commercial operations and kick off a campaign to scale its fleet of electric vehicles and expand beyond Las Vegas.

The unique approach to car-sharing has attracted several investors. The company said Wednesday it raised $5 million in a seed round led by climate tech fund At One Ventures, with participation from T-Mobile Ventures, Earthshot Ventures, and existing investor Boost VC. The funds will help the startup to expand into cities beyond Las Vegas and scale its fleet to 1,000 EVs by the end of 2023.

Halo Car's model shouldn't be confused with autonomous vehicle technology companies like Argo AI, Aurora, Cruise, Waymo and Zoox, which have developed self-driving systems designed to allow vehicles to navigate public streets without any human in the loop — either behind the wheel or remotely. Halo Car’s model provides remote human assistance at all times.

Halo Car’s business model crosses Zipcar, which requires customers to pick up the car wherever the previous user parked it, with traditional rental car companies such as Enterprise and Rent-A-Car. However, Halo Car delivers the vehicle directly to the next customer; think white-glove chauffeur service, without the white gloves or the chauffeur.

Founder and CEO Anand Nandakumar led perception for Uber’s self-driving unit Advanced Technologies Group. He developed the idea of using remote piloting in 2019 after leaving Uber. Looking at the 10-year horizon for fully autonomous driving, he thought remote human piloting could serve as a bridge to deploying driverless cars sooner.