Upshift and Elmo bring remote control car subscriptions to California

Upshift has partnered with Estonian-based remote driving technology pioneer Elmo to launch remote control car subscription services in California. The collaboration marks a significant step toward scaling remote driving technology in the U.S. mobility market, enabling members to subscribe to a car that is delivered and valet parked on demand without a driver inside the vehicle.

From Estonia to California: remote driving goes global

Elmo, the world’s first company to commercialize road-legal remotely driven cars on public streets since 2022, will provide its proprietary teledriving technology to Upshift. Through this integration, Upshift members will be able to order vehicles that are remotely driven to their doorstep in cities like San Francisco, while operators can reposition cars remotely without leaving the office — reducing friction in shared vehicle fleets and increasing fleet efficiency.

“Upshift is reinventing car ownership for the autonomous era. Members subscribe to a car that’s there when you need it, and gone when you don’t. Our partnership with Elmo allows us to build this future today, before personal autonomous vehicles are available,” said Ezra Goldman, CEO and co-founder of Upshift.

“This partnership brings remote driving into one of the most dynamic mobility markets in the world,” said Tuuli Tolmats-Aia, COO and co-founder of Elmo. “Redistribution of shared fleets becomes significantly more efficient and faster when vehicles can move without a driver on board. This is not a future vision — it’s already operational. We’re also excited to return to the U.S. market following our first trials in Los Angeles in 2022.”

A new standard for efficient shared fleets

By combining Upshift’s customer-centric subscription model with Elmo’s road-legal human-in-control remote driving technology, the partnership enables:

• Doorstep, on-demand vehicle delivery and repositioning without drivers
• Reduced idle time and higher fleet utilization
• Lower operational costs and environmental impact
• Real-time remote control using secure multi-network connectivity

Unlike fully autonomous systems, Elmo’s technology keeps a trained and licensed remote driver in control, ensuring safety and adaptability in real-world conditions — while enabling lower CAPEX, faster scaling, and simpler regulatory integration.

A strong alternative to autonomy — bridging the gap to reality

While autonomous driving continues to evolve, the Upshift–Elmo collaboration demonstrates a practical and scalable solution available today, especially in technology-enabled car access.

Remote driving:

• Is already commercially deployed on public roads in Europe and America
• Has lower technological and regulatory risk compared to full autonomy
• Enables faster time-to-market and operational scaling

“Mobility services need solutions that work today, and as we often say within our team, our remote driving technology already delivers an experience similar to autonomy with human intelligence,” added Tolmats-Aia. “Remote driving is a highly practical, long-term technology across many use cases and is rapidly becoming one of the most relevant innovations in the transport sector.”

About Upshift

Upshift is the end-to-end operating system for autonomous-ready car subscriptions. Upshift provides a full-stack platform that enables dealers, carshare, and rental fleet operators to turn their vehicles into a seamless, “there-when-you-need-it” monthly car subscription service. Our software stack includes a keyless member app, subscription billing engine, and proprietary logistics and dispatch backend. By orchestrating everything from cleaning and damage reporting to remote-driving integration and future autonomous vehicle systems, Upshift owns the data and customer experience that will define the future of car ownership. Upshift currently operates our own service in San Francisco, California, and now enables fleet partners to offer remote control car subscriptions in cities across the United States. Reach out to learn more!

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, demonstrated cross-border teleoperation over distances exceeding 4,300 km, and set a remote driving speed record of 157 km/h with a passenger car. Its technology enables safe and scalable remote operation via 4G/5G, satellite, and multi-network architectures, with applications across mobility, logistics, and defense.