Intel and Mobileye hope to commercialize their nascent self-driving ride-hailing service by 2022.
Tim Stevens/Roadshow
Volkswagen and Intel's Mobileye are teaming up to launch an autonomous ride-hailing service in Mobileye's home market of Israel, according to a Reuters report published Monday.
The two companies plan to launch what they're weirdly calling "Mobility-as-a-Service" in 2019, with the goal of commercializing it by 2022. The companies will work with Israeli car importer Champion Motors to manage the fleet of electric vehicles and oversee operations.
The Reuters report also states that the Israeli government is on board for this venture, having already signed off on the proposal and agreed to share traffic data with the companies. This could set a precedent for cooperation between government and self-driving tech companies, an arrangement that could be beneficial here in the US.
Volkswagen's decision to partner with Mobileye could be a good one in our estimation. Roadshow's editor in chief Tim Stevens went to Jerusalem earlier this year to experience just how good the company's autonomous driving tech actually is, and he came away impressed.
